BR  121 

.C65 

1896 

1 

Coyle, 

John 

Patterson, 

1852- 

1895. 

1 

The  spirit 

in  literature 

anc 

THE  SPIRIT  IN   LITERATURE 
AND  LIFE 


THE   E.  D.  RAND    LECTURES    IN    IOWA 
COLLEGE  FOR  THE  YEAR  1894 


BY 


^ 


JOHN  PATTERSON  COYLE,  D.  D. 


BOSTON  AND  NEW  YORK 
HOUGHTON,  MIFFLIN  AND   COMPANY 

(C&e  ^itocrjsibe  ^rc^tf,  CamtrtDgc 

1896 


Copyright,  1895, 
By  MARY  CUSHMAN  COYLE. 

All  rights  reserved. 


SECOND    EDITION. 


The  Riverside  Press,  Cambridge,  Mass.,  U.  S.  A. 
Electrotyped  and  Printed  by  H.  0.  Houghton  &  Co. 


TO 

MY  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 

FROM   THE   SECOND   OF   WHOM  I   RECEIVED 

THE    NEVER-FORGOTTEN   ADVICE    TO    THINK    FEARLESSLY 

AND   FROM   BOTH   OF  WHOM   I   RECEIVED 

AN  IMPRESSION  OF  THE  REALITY 

OF  THE  SPIRIT  OF  CHRISTLIKENESS  WHICH  COULD  NOT  BE  EFFACED 

BY  YEARS  OF  BLACK  DOUBT  AND  DREARY  AGNOSTICISM 

AND  TO   WHOM   BELONGS  THE   CREDIT 

IF  I  HAVE  BEEN  ABLE  TO  THINK  THROUGH  ANY  ONE 

OF  THE  PROBLEMS  OF  THE  AGE 


PREFACE. 

Since  I  hope  that  these  lectures  may  have  the 
good  fortune  to  be  read,  as  they  were  heard,  by 
some  true  scholars,  I  would  draw  at  least  one  of 
the  stings  of  criticism  by  saying  in  advance  that 
they  do  not  bring  to  their  subject  a  scholarship 
worthy  of  it.  The  views  expressed  in  them  have 
been  withheld  for  years  because  of  a  cherished 
ambition  to  be  able  some  day  to  give  to  them  a 
fit  setting  of  research.  But  hoped-for  leisure  is 
still  denied,  time  passes,  they  seem  to  be  needed 
as  a  keystone  for  an  arch,  special  scholars  over- 
look the  clew  to  them,  an  imsought  invitation  to 
lecture  brings  the  opportunity,  and  so  at  a  good 
deal  of  sacrifice  of  pride  they  are  put  forth  in  this 
imperfect  shape.  I  claim  for  them  that  they  are 
the  fruit  of  a  spirit  of  scholarship  which  I  was 
once  permitted  to  breathe,  that  they  will  bear  its 
test  in  the  main,  and  with  what  grace  I  can  I 
leave  to  others  their  correction  and  development. 
Following  as  they  do  an  untrodden  path,  which 
traverses  at  an  unaccustomed  angle  the  whole  field 


VI  PREFACE. 

of  possible  knowledge,  only  a  cyclopedic  know- 
ledge could  fully  satisfy  the  demand  they  make. 
Many  matters  had  to  be  disposed  of  summarily 
which  are  worthy  of  studied  attention.  One  or 
two  authors  have  been  consulted  on  special  topics 
upon  which  libraries  have  been  written.  Yet  the 
references  in  the  footnotes  do  not  begin  to  indi- 
cate the  influence  which  the  writings  of  others 
have  had  in  the  formation  and  the  maturing  of 
these  ideas.  Those  whose  service  has  been  great, 
est  have  given  it  in  the  form  of  mental  nutriment 
and  stimulus,  or  by  subtle  suggestions  which  can- 
not be  verified  by  quotations.  The  major  axes  of 
interest  in  many  most  diverse  dej)artments  of 
investigation  seem  to  me  to  converge  to  the  point 
here  made.  Problems  of  force  in  all  its  manifes- 
tations, of  inspiration,  of  sociology,  of  psychology 
in  its  broader  outlines  of  philosophical  history,  all 
demand  a  new  treatment  of  this  subject,  and  will 
receive  an  illmnination  from  its  successful  treat- 
ment. Well  may  the  words  of  Montesquieu,  in 
the  introduction  to  his  great  treatise  on  "  The 
Spirit  of  Laws,"  be  here  quoted:  "If  this  work 
meets  with  success  I  shall  owe  it  chiefly  to  the 
grandeur  and  majesty  of  the  subject." 

JOHN  P.  COYLE. 


CONTENTS. 


I. 

PAGE 

The  Three  Stages  of  Thought.  —  Jesus  as  a  Pure  Phenome- 
non. —  Spiritual  Phenomena  in  General,  —  Individualism. 

—  The  New  Spiritual  Force.  —  Semitic  Spirit.  —  The  Spirit 

as  a  Social  Force .       1 

n. 

Age  of  Disorganization.  —  David.  —  Elijah  the  Prophet.  — 
Amos  and  his  Line.  —  Ethics  of  the  Prophets.  —  Heroes. 

—  Priest-Prophet  and  Scribe-Prophet.  —  The  Synagogue. 

—  The  Hebrew  and  the  Hellenic  Spirit 40 

III. 

The  Literature  of  the  Spirit.  —  Literature  and  Hebrew  Life. 

—  Doctrine  of  God  and  of  the  World.  —  Prophetic  Guilds. 

—  Literature  a  Force.  —  The  Spirit  and  the  Canon.  —  The 
Great  Crisis.  —  Messianic  Expectation.  —  The  "  Remnant  "     73 

IV. 

The  Mother  of  Jesus.  —  The  Home  and  the  Nation.  —  The 
National  Consciousness.  —  Jesus'  Thought  of  the  Divine 
Fatherhood.  —  Providence  and  Angels  and  Demons.  — 
Gospel  of  the  Kingdom.  —  The  Philosophy  of  Outlawry.  — 
Hebrew  History  in  the  Light  of  Jesus'  Spirit.  —  Jesus  an 
Era.  —  The  Age  of  the  Spirit 117 

V. 

The  Organization  of  the  Early  Church.  —  The  Spirit  of  the 
Church   and    Social   Customs.  —  Slavery.  —  Property.  — 


viii  CQN  TENTS. 

Woman.  —  The  Family.  —  Nationalism.  —  Politics.  —  In- 
dustrialism. —  Literature.  —  Science.  —  The  Old  and  the 
New  Testaments.  —  The  Bible  aa  a  Force.  —  Bibliolatry. 
—  Plenary  Inspiration 154 

VI. 

The  Spii-it  a  Moral  Force.  —  Miracles.  —  The  Spirit  and  the 
Unseen  World.  —  Friendship.  —  Immortality.  —  Apotheo- 
sis of  Jesus.  —  Apotheosis  of  the  Father.  —  Apotheosis  of 
the  Spirit.  —  The  Holy  Trinity.  —  Divine  Ordering  and 
Continuity.  —  The  Atonement.  —  Summary 197 


THE   SPIRIT  IN  LITERATURE  AND 
LIFE. 


I. 

It  was  the  fruitful  observation  of  Auguste 
Comte  that  the  human  mind  in  its  treatment  of 
facts  was  likely  to  take  three  successive  _    , 

•^  •     c  1  -^^^  three 

attitudes.  At  first  it  would  infer  that  stagesof 
all  facts  not  easily  accounted  for  had 
been  caused  by  the  capricious  interference  of  non- 
human  personalities,  gods  and  demigods.  Comte 
called  this  the  theological,  though  it  might  more 
properly  be  described  as  the  mythological  method. 
Then,  taking  what  he  regarded  as  a  step  in  ad- 
vance, it  adopted  the  metaphysical  method,  and  ac- 
counted for  things,  not  by  the  caprices  of  persons, 
but  by  the  fixed  attributes  of  entities.  Finally, 
perceiving  the  futility  also  of  this  explanation, 
it  was  fain  to  be  content  with  positivism,  and 
simply  to  observe  and  classify  facts,  seeking  to 
learn  their  general  characteristics  and  such  causes 
and  effects  as  belong  to  the  same  phenomenal 
order. 


2  METHOD   OF  POSITIVISM, 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  mind  can  be 
Method  of  content  with  positivism  without  maiming 
positivism,  -^ggjf  ^^^^  doing  less  than  full  justice  to 
the  facts.  But  praise  should  not  be  withheld  from 
Comte  and  his  fellow  prophets  of  kindred  schools, 
for  their  services  in  overthrowing  the  undue  power 
of  doctrines  founded  upon  premature  or  illicit 
inferences,  and  in  encouraging  prolonged  and 
patient  study  of  facts.  While  it  would  be  unfair 
to  assert  that  these  assumed  personalities  and  en- 
tities, though  they  may  have  been  unreal,  served 
no  useful  j^urpose  in  the  pursuit  of  truth,  since 
they  often  filled  the  place  which  would  to-day  be 
filled  by  provisional  hypotheses,  yet  it  was  a 
common  vice  of  the  past  to  infer  them  too  hastily, 
and  then  to  cling  to  them  so  tenaciously  as  to  let 
them  dominate  and  vitiate  further  observation. 
Aside  therefore  from  any  question  as  to  their  use- 
fulness or  validity,  it  is  a  gain  to  have  at  least 
temporarily  arrested  the  tendency  to  make  them, 
so  that  an  era  of  observation,  unhindered  by 
stereotyped  notions,  may  yield  material  either  for 
pure  induction,  or,  if  they  should  be  adjudged 
legitimate,  for  a  more  adequate  set  of  inferences 
concerning  entities  or  personalities. 

There  is  one  field  where  the  method  of  attend- 
ing strictly  to  facts,  and  abstaining  from  prema- 
ture and  questionable  inferences  concerning  causes 
or  existences  outside  the  reach  of  observation, 
promises  to  yield  exceptionally  rich  residts.     Tliis 


HIS  SPIRIT  AS  A  PURE  PHENOMENON.       3 

is  in  the  study  of  the  most  significant   phenome- 
non in  the  known  universe,   the   person 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth.     Hardly  any  other  pure  pife* 
fact  has  been  so  hampered  by  the  grave-  "  "^®"°"- 
clothes  of  dead  speculations  of  the  mythological 
and    metaphysical    orders.     Although    the    work 
which  has  been  accomplished  in  this  field  of  re- 
search has  been  done  chiefly  by  incompetent,  be- 
cause  biased    and    unfriendly    critics,   yet   when 
once  it  has  been  restated  by  sympathetic  hands, 
men  will  not  be  slow  to  acknowledge  the  gain,  and 
to  confess  that  it  has  been  the  means  of  verifying 
rather  than  of  contradicting  his  own  saying  that 
he  is  "the  truth." 

Alongside  of  Jesus,  and  so  far  identified  with 
him  as  to  be  for  the  most  part  imperfectly  distin- 
guished from  him,  and  to  form  with  him 
a  single  though  not  a  simple  phenome-  apurephe- 
non,  stands  another  fact  of  equal  propor- 
tions and  significance,  his  spirit.     The  distinction 
between  the  spirit  of  Jesus  and  Jesus  himself  is 
as   fundamental  and  important  as  their  identity. 
They   are    historically  and  numerically  one   fact. 
With   equal   emphasis,    however,    it   must  be  af- 
firmed that  they  are  historically  and  numerically 
two   facts,  subjects  of   more  or  less  independent 
investigation.     It  is  to  the  study  of  this  spirit,  as 
a  fact  by  itself,  and  a  pure  phenomenon,  that  our 
attention  is  invited.^ 

1  Professor  Fairbairn,  in  his  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  The- 


4       SPIRITUAL  PHENOMENA  IN  GENERAL. 

Like  as  in  the  fruitful  study  of  the  person  of 
Jesus  it  is  necessary  to  first  exhaust  him  on  his 
more  intelligible  side ;  to  treat  him  as  capable  of 
classification  with  other  men,  and  as 
phenomena  forming  au  integral  part  of  the  history 
m genera.  ^^  ^^^  racc ;  SO  this  Corresponding  fact, 
his  spirit,  can  be  observed  to  good  purpose  only 
by  postponing  any  emphasis  which  might  be 
placed  upon  its  uniqueness,  and  by  considering  it 
as  a  member  of  a  class.  But  the  class  of  phe- 
nomena to  which  it  belongs  is  one  which  has  been 
so  commonly  treated  in  the  mythological  or  meta- 
physical way  that  little  else  can  be  done  until  we 
have  first  learned  to  avoid  the  pitfalls  which  have 
thus  been  prepared.  We  must  undertake  to  per- 
ceive and  speak  of  a  certain  class  of  spirits  as 
pure  phenomena,  and  must  observe  some  of  their 
leading  characteristics  and  general  laws.  Fortu- 
nately the  genius  of  language  has  as  usual  some- 
what anticipated  the  demands  upon  it,  and  has 
provided  in  common  speech  distinctions  which 
permit   us   to    employ  the    term  "  spirit "  in  the 

ology,  has  a  chapter  on  "  The  Rediscovery  of  the  Historical 
Christ."  "What  is  here  sought  is  the  rediscovery  of  the  histori- 
cal spirit.  Says  Professor  Ladd  (Doctrine  of  Sacred  Scripture^ 
vol.  ii. ,  p.  357) :  "  Of  spirit  which  is  not  now  and  here  con- 
cretely made  known,  we  can  take  no  cognizance ;  from  it  we  can 
expect  no  appreciable  communication.  And  if  the  Bible  is,  in 
any  intelligible  sense  of  the  word,  theopneustic,  it  is  so  because 
the  spirit  from  which  it  comes  has  caused  it  to  come  into  exis- 
tence concretely,  and  in  accordance  with  the  laws  and  processes 
of  nature  and  history." 


UNTEODDEN  GROUND.  O 

positivist  sense.  We  speak  habitually  of  the 
spirit  of  a  man,  or  of  a  book,  or  of  a  movement,  or 
of  a  party,  without  even  hinting  at  any  mysterious 
person  or  entity  behind  the  phenomenon. 

The  study  of  a  spirit  as  on  the  one  hand  a  pure 
phenomenon,  without  implying  anything  meta- 
physical or  mythological,  and  on  the  untrodden 
other  hand  an  actual  independent  fact,  ^'■*'"'''^" 
rather  than  a  mere  quality  or  abstraction,  is  at- 
tended, however,  with  most  of  the  advantages  and 
disadvantages  of  a  pioneer  effort.  A  new  and 
rich  territory  is  to  be  explored.  It  has  occurred 
to  few  to  enter  it  armed  with  the  scientific  method. 
Most  of  those  who  have  made  the  attempt  have 
speedily  succumbed  to  the  tendency  to  treat  the 
spirit  as  an  entity  or  a  personality,  and  have 
passed  up  into  the  region  of  theology  or  meta- 
physics, or  down  into  that  of  vulgar  spiritism  or 
theosophy.  Those  who  have  not  done  this  have 
rarely  avoided  treating  it  as  an  abstraction,  or 
have  employed  the  term  in  some  vague  literary 
rather  than  in  a  scientific  sense.  ^ 

1  Approaches  to  the  use  of  this  method  are  found  in  Mathe- 
son's  Growth  of  the  Spirit  of  Christi-anity,  and  in  Lester  Ward's 
Dynamical  Sociology  and  Psychic  Factors  in  Civilization.  Mon- 
tesquieu  in  his  Spirit  of  Laws  was  instinctively  attempting  it,  but 
without  a  conscious  critical  method,  so  that  he  was  lost  in  detail. 
See  Dhering,  Spirit  of  Roman  Law,  where  the  method  is  con- 
sciously employed.  I  have  discovered  no  suggestion  of  the 
method  in  modern  theological  literature,  where  it  ought  to  he 
expected.  It  is  essential,  though  they  themselves  have  not  per- 
ceived it,  to  the  carrying  out  of  either  Comte's  or  Spencer's 
schemes  for  a  scientific  sociology.     Perhaps   Kenan's   frequent 


6  IMPORTANT  CLASS  OF  FACTS. 

To  note  tlie  distinction  between  phenomenal 
spirits  and  those  of  the  mythological  or  metaphy- 
sical order,  it  is  only  necessary  to  at- 
cSS'of*"  tempt  to  classify  together  the  spirit  which 
l^rompts  the  building  of  hospitals  and 
that  alleged  spirit  which  raps  upon  tables  in  dark- 
room seances.  The  mind  at  once  protests  against 
such  classifications.  Yet,  while  we  never  think  of 
identifying  the  spirit  of  the  hospital-building  spe- 
cies with  any  mysterious  person  or  entity,  its  real- 
ity in  the  sense  in  which  we  employ  that  term  in 
every-day  life  is  better  confirmed  than  that  of  the 
spirit  of  the  table-rapping  species.  It  belongs,  as 
the  other  does  not,  to  the  class  of  spirits  which  are. 
among  the  most  numerous  and  powerful  factors  in 
history.  It  belongs  to  the  class  of  facts  to  which 
Guizot  refers  when  he  sjDeaks  of  "  a  power  which 
no  law  can  comj)rise  or  suppress,  and  wdiich  in 
times  of  need  goes  further  than  institutions.  Call 
it  the  spirit  of  the  age,  public  intelligence,  opinion, 
or  what  you  will,  you  cannot  doubt  its  existence. 
It  is  of  the  greatest  importance  that  these  indirect 
influences  should  be  kept  in  view  in  the  study  of 
history.  They  are  much  more  efficacious  and  often 
more  salutary  than  we  take  them  to  be.  .  .  .  Every 
country  in  Europe  has  seen  rise  and  develop  itself 
within  it  a  certain  public  mind."  ^ 

and  lucid  reference  to  the  "  spirits  "  of  the  race  and  of  humanity 
in  his  History  of  the  People  of  Israel  is  traceable  to  the  influence 
of  Comte. 

^  Ilistory  of  Civilization^  vol.  i.,  pp  129,  16^. 


AND  A  LARGE  CLASS.  7 

The  world  is  densely  populated  with  spirits  of 
this  phenomenal  kind.  They  are  doing  a  good 
part  of  its  work,  and  are  mustering  to  And  a  large 
fight  henceforth  its  greatest  battles.  It  '^^^''• 
is  because  of  the  imperial  authority  of  spiritual 
forces  that  the  greatest  material  armaments  that 
ever  stood  prepared  for  conflict  are  spell-bound, 
and  dare  not  make  a  hostile  movement.  The  con- 
tests are  to  be  no  longer  those  of  flesh  and  blood, 
but  of  spiritual  hosts  in  higher  regions.  Among 
spiritual  phenomena  of  historical  importance  at 
this  time  are  to  be  found  the  spirit  of  brotherhood, 
transcending  differences  of  race  and  political  boun- 
daries and  economic  conditions.  Somewhat  coun- 
terpoising this  are  such  newly-born  or  requick- 
ened  national  spirits  as  never  before  looked  so 
consciously  into  one  another's  faces.  There  is  a 
Zeit  Geist,  and  there  are  many  anti-zeit-geists, 
reactionary  spirits  resisting  the  Zeit  Geist  to  the 
uttermost.  Among  them,  of  the  same  class  with 
them,  yet  stronger  and  destined  to  make  con- 
quest of  all,  is  the  spirit  which  we  are  to  study, 
greater  than  the  Zeit  Geist,  "the  spirit  of  the 
ages,"  measuring  itself  up  with  the  spirit  of  the 
age.  This  is  the  Christ  spirit,  and  stands  in  the 
same  relative  attitude  toward  these  other  spirits  in 
which  Jesus  of  Nazareth  stands  toward  other  men. 
As  Jesus  is  being  most  fruitfully  known  to-day  as 
one  among  men,  whatever  further  thing  concerning 
him  may  be  true  ;  so  this  spirit,  whatever  «^lse  mny 


8      OBJECTIVITY  OF  SPIRITUAL  PHENOMENA. 

be  true  of  it,  may  first  be  most  profitably  studied 
as  one  among  spirits  of  the  plienomenal  kind. 

But  in  the  effort  to  avoid  treating  these  spirits 
as  other  than  phenomenal,  we  are  in  danger  of  go- 
ing to  another  extreme  and  doubting  their 
of  spiritual    reality.     In  the  most  genuine  sense  they 

phenomena.     ,,  .  iici*         •  ,.. 

belong  to  the  world  oi  objective  realities. 
While  most  persons  are  little  disposed  to  believe 
in  the  table-rapping  spirits  of  the  seances,  or  the 
mahatmas  of  the  theosophists,  or  the  ghosts  which 
figure  in  the  reports  of  societies  for  psychical  re- 
search, no  healthy  mind  doubts  the  reality  of  spirits 
of  this  kind.  No  one  is  under  suspicion  of  being 
a  dupe  who  testifies  that  he  saw  the  spirit  of  enter- 
prise in  Chicago,  or  the  spirit  of  John  Wesley  in 
a  Methodist  conference,  or  the  spirit  of  Wall 
Street  ojiposite  Trinity  Church.  He  may  or  not 
be  in  special  sympathy  with  such  spirits.  He  may 
be  sensitive  to  them  because  of  antipathy  as  well. 
Many  who  manifest  a  spirit  do  not  guess  of  what 
manner  of  spirit  they  are.  The  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity may  be  readily  perceived  by  one  who  is  in- 
different or  even  hostile  to  it.  The  reality  of  these 
spirits  is  not  of  subjective  persuasion.  It  has  all 
the  marks  of  objective  perception. 

Neither  are  these  spirits  abstractions.  The 
name  does  not  stand  for  ajnere  g^uality.  The  sj^irit 
Not  abstrac-  ^^  ^^^  ^K^i  ^^^  Spirit  of  Wcslcy,  the  sj)irit 
tions.  ^£  ^j^g  Christ,  are  more  than  qualities  of 

the  age,  of  Wesley,  of  the  Christ.     A  quality  does 


NOT  ABSTRACTIONS.  y 

not  proceed  from  one  thing  to  another,  is  not  capa- 
ble of  impartation,  as  heat  from  a  stove  or  light 
from  a  lamp.  The  spirits  of  Wesley,  of  the  age, 
of  the  Christ,  proceed  from  and  are  imparted  by- 
Wesley,  the  age,  the  Christ,  as  heat  from  the  stove 
and  light  from  the  lamp.  In  a  sense  these  last 
are  independent  things.  The  stove  and  the  heat 
are  two  things  ;  the  lamp  and  the  light  are  two 
things.  Heat  and  light  are  not  qualities.  They  are 
modes  of  motion,  and  they  may  leave  the  stove  or 
the  lamp  and  go  elsewhere,  and  they  will  not  cease 
to  exist  in  some  form  as  modes  of  motion.  In  the 
same  sense  Wesley  is  one  fact  and  the  spirit  of 
Wesley  is  another,  the  age  one  and  the  spirit  of 
the  age  another,  the  Christ  one  and  the  spirit  of 
the  Christ  another  fact.  The  spirit  holds  the  same 
kind  of  relation  toward  that  of  which  it  is  the 
spirit  that  the  physical  forces  hold  toward  the  ma- 
terial things  of  which  they  are  the  modes  of  motion. 
They  are  modes  of  action,^  if  we  may  use  that 
word  to  designate  something  more  highly  organ- 
ized than  simple  motion,  if  not  specifically  different 
from  it.  As  motion  is  motion  and  nothing  else, 
and  cannot  be  changed  into  matter  or  originated 
from  matter,  but  can  only  be  transmitted  or  trans- 
ferred to  some  other  mode  of  itself,  so  spirit  is  ac- 
tion and  not  quality,  and  cannot  be  destroyed  but 
only  transmitted  or  transformed  into  some  other 
mode  of  action.    Hence,  when  we  speak  of  a  spirit 

1  Lester  Ward,  Psychic  Factors  in  Civilization,  pp.  80,  130. 


10  YET  OF  A  SECONDAEY  KIND. 

we  do  not  speak  of  a  mere  quality  or  abstraction, 
but  of  that  wvhicli  possesses  an  mde^^enclent  reality^. 

^Yet,  wliile  not  an  abstraction  or  a  quality,  a 
spirit  is  always  a  reality  of  a  secondary  kind.     It 

is  always  a  spirit^  something,  and  never 
s(fcouda%      "just    spirit."     The  Wesleyan   spirit   is 

the  spirit  of  Wesley,  and  if  it  existed  be- 
fore him  and  merely  took  his  name,  still  it  was  the 
spirit  of  some  man  or  set  of  men  or  movement. 
The  Zeit  Geist  is  the  spirit  of  the  age.  The  Christ 
spirit  is  the  spirit  of  the  Christ.  And  though  in 
many  common  modes  of  speech  the  preposition  is 
used  in  a  looser  sense,  merely  by  way  of  adding  a 
descriptive  term,  yet  strictly  speaking  there  is  no 
spirit  which  is  not  the  spirit  of  something  to  which 
it  is  to  be  joined  by  the  fullest  force  of  the  prepo- 
sition. When  Matthew  Arnold  said  that  the  spirit 
of  lubricity  ruled  in  French  literature,  he  used  the 
prepositional  phrase  for  descriptive  purposes  only. 
But  if  one  were  to  say  that  that  same  spirit  is  the 
spirit  of  French  literature,  and  may  be  imparted 
by  it  to  American  literature  and  life,  he  is  speak- 
ing in  a  strict  sense.  If  that  spirit  were  to  leave 
French  and  come  to  American  literature,  it  would 
still  be  the  spirit  of  something  ;  it  would  have  no 
existence  except  as  the  spirit  of  something.  In 
this  sense  of  dependence,  as  well  as  in  that  of  in- 
dependence, therefore,  the  same  relation  exists 
between  spirit  and  those  things  of  which  it  is  the 
spirit,  as  between  material  forces  or  modes  of  mo- 


BACON  ON  PLATO.  11 

tion  and  material  things,  between  motion  and  mat* , 
ter. 

Tlie  failure  to  keep  equally  clear  in  our  minds 
both  the  dependence  and  the  independence  of  spir- 
itual phenomena  will  so  far  vitiate  obser-  B^con  on 
vation  as  to  throw  us  into  one  or  the  ^^^*°' 
other  of  the  two  errors  above  indicated,  of  regard- 
ing spirits  as  either  simple  abstractions,  with  no 
kind  of  independent  reality,  or  as  entities  of  some 
imperceptible  type.  And  either  of  these  opposite 
errors  will  cause  a  reaction  to  the  other.  Bacon, 
to  whom  more  than  to  any  other  we  owe  the  method 
of  pure  observation  of  phenomena,  seems  to  accuse 
Plato  of  failing  in  this  way  to  make  the  most  of 
his  great  and  fruitful  doctrine  of  ideas,  when  he 
says :  "  It  is  manifest  that  Plato  saw  in  his  doc- 
trine of  ideas  that  'forms  were  the  true  object 
of  knowledge,'  though  he  lost  the  advantage  of 
this  just  opinion  by  contemplating  and  grasping  at 
forms  totally  abstracted  from  matter  and  not  as 
determined  in  it :  whence  he  turned  aside  to  theo- 
logical questions  and  therewith  infected  all  his 
natural  philosophy."  ^  That  is  to  say,  Plato,  at- 
tempting to  treat  that  as  an  abstraction  which  was 
actually  more  than  an  abstraction,  fell  through 
into  the  opposite  extreme  of  mythology. 

In  view  of  the  similarity  of  relationship  between 
material  forces  and  material  things,  and  spiritual 
forces  and  the  things  of  which  they  are  the  spirits, 
1  De  Augm.,  iii,  4. 


12  SPIRITUAL  AND  PEBSONAL. 

it  is  necessary  to  observe  that  that  thing  of  which 
a  spirit  is  a  secondary  phenomenon  is  al- 
aiT  "^  ways  either  a  person  or  that  into  which 
persona.  personality  enters  as  the  determining 
element.  The  Zeit  Geist  is  the  spirit  of  that  which 
is  made  np  not  of  things  but  of  persons.  If  the 
spirit  of  the  Christ  was  manifest  before  Jesus  it 
was  in  persons  or  societies  or  laws  or  literature  or 
art,  all  expressive  of  personality.  If  the  line  of 
distinction  between  persons  and  things  be  hard  to 
fix,  equally  hard  will  it  be  to  fix  the  distinction  be- 
tween spiritual  and  material  forces.  If  on  the 
other  hand  the  chasm  between  persons  and  things 
be  distinct  and  impossible  to  bridge  over,  equally 
impassable  is  the  chasm  between  material  and  spir- 
itual forces.  If  language  has  acknowledged  a  de- 
batable zone  between  persons  and  things  by  using 
such  expressions  as  "  the  animal  man,"  likewise  it 
has  confessed  a  corresponding  debatable  zone  be- 
tween material  and  spiritual  phenomena  by  speak- 
ing of  "  animal  spirits."  If  there  be  intercourse 
and  inter-dependence  between  persons  and  things, 
so  that  personality  may  be  nourished  by  the  imper- 
sonal or  may  degenerate  into  it,  so  are  spiritual 
and  material  forces  mutually  interconvertible.  If 
a  person  can  belong  to  the  visible  world  only 
through  alliance  with  matter,  and  enters  into  the 
unseen  so  soon  as  that  alliance  is  broken,  likewise 
spiritual  forces  can  play  a  part  in  the  visible  order 
only  by  producing  material  action  or  motion.    Even 


SPIRITUAL  FOBCES  SPECIFIC  FORCES.      13 

the  spirit  of  the  seances,  though  it  is  fancied  to  be 
an  entity,  is  as  though  it  did  not  exist  unless  it  can 
"  materialize  "  by  producing  some  mode  of  motion. 
In  spite,  however,  of  the  vagueness  of  the  distinc- 
tion between  persons  and  things,  and  the  unsatis- 
f  actoriness  of  the  definitions  which  have  been  made, 
and  the  seeming  impossibility  of  abolishing  the 
debatable  zone,  no  one  doubts  that  the  difference 
between  persons  and  things  is  specific,  if  anything 
is  specific.  Correspondingly  specific  is  the  distinc- 
tion between  spiritual  and  material  forces. 

Not  only  are  spiritual  phenomena  specifically  dis- 
tinguished from  material ;  they  may  also,  like  ma- 
terial forces,  be  specific  as  distinguished 
from  one  another.  The__spirit  of  the  age  fOTces"spe- 
is  a  sjjecific  force,  as  electricity  is,  and 
like  the  latter  is  not  transformed  into  other  modes 
unless  it  finds  obstacles  to  its  transmission  in  kind  ; 
and  then  it  is  likely  to  leave  some  mark  of  itself 
upon  the  new  phenomenon  which  it  produces.  The 
success  of  a  spiritual  force  in  maintaining  its  spe- 
cific character  must  depend  upon  its  finding  per- 
sonal or  social  or  literary  or  legal  channels  through 
which  it  can  move  without  meeting  too  great  resis- 
tance. It  can  indeed  produce  these  things  ;  but 
only  in  obedience  to  the  law  by  which  the  higher 
specific  forces  work  upon  the  basis  of  the  lower, 
by  gradual  and  almost  imperceptible  changes.  The 
vital  functions  undoubtedly  develop  structure,  as 
structure  does  function,  but  not  by  great  leaps. 


14  SPIBITUAL  SUBSTANCE. 

Apparent  exceptions  are  to  be  accounted  for  as 
only  apparent.  It  is,  however,  within  the  reahn  of 
reasonable  anticipation,  that  such  permanent  and 
suitable  personal  and  spiritual  embodiments  will 
at  length  be  evolved,  that  corresponding  spiritual 
phenomena  may  therein  find  the  opportunity  to 
become  persistent,  so  that  indestructibility  may  be 
affirmed  of  their  specific  modes  of  action,  as  con- 
tinuity is  affirmed  of  the  action  itself.  If  in  spite 
of  the  flux  in  its  physical  basis,  personality  is  able 
to  achieve  fixedness,  a  parallel  fixedness  will  per- 
tain to  the  spirits  which  proceed  from  such  person- 
alities. If  several  personalities  become  persistent 
and  maintain  an  equally  persistent  social  relation- 
ship, that  will  give  rise  to  a  social  spirit  also 
equally  persistent. 

It  may  then  even  lay  some  claim  to  a  right  to 
be  put  under  the  category  of  substance.  Says  a 
Spiritual  rcccut  Writer,  arguing  that  although  life 
substance.  isonly_a_mode  of  motionjt  has  as  goo3" 
a  right  to  be  called  a^suBstance  as  anything  else : 
"  What  more  can  be  affirmed  of  any  substance 
.  .  .  than  that  amidst  its  varying  affections  it 
constitutes  an  identical,  individual,  perdurable 
and  self-sustaining  focus  of  energy  ?  "  ^  Thus,  rea- 
soning in  the  other  direction,  Lotze,  somewhere 
trying  to  show  that  the  fact  that  the  body  is  com- 
posed of  a  variety  of  monads  does  not  make 
impossible  the    substantial    individuality   of    the 

1  E.  Montgomery,  Mind,  vol.  vi.,  p.  243. 


SPIRITUAL  SUBSTjiNCE.  15 

man,  illustrates  it  by  tlie  relation  between  the 
Zeit  Geist  and  individual  men  and  women.  There 
is,  he  says,  "  a  Zeit  Geist  which  is  not  any  one 
man  and  yet  exists  in  the  consciousness  of  differ- 
ent individuals,  weak  in  the  stupid  and  unsym-  A^ 
pathetic,  and  strong  in  those  of  opposite  capacity,  '• 
and  thus  the  individuality  of  each  shades  off  into 
the  Zeit  Geist,  which  is  the  universal  behind  them 
all."  1  The  identity  and  individuality  of  a  spirit- 
ual phenomenon  of  this  class  is  like  that  which 
the  Lutheran  theologians  in  their  doctrine  of  con- 
Bubstantiality  affirm  of  the  identity  of  the  symbols 
of  the  sacrament  with  the  body  of  Christ.  They 
gay  it  is  not  a  local  but  a  definitive  —  we  might 
Bay  a  functional  —  identity  ;  it  performs  the  same 
office  and  is  consequently  the  same  in  spirit.  Or 
it  might  be  compared  to  Herbert  Spencer's  "  mov- 
ing equilibria,"  which,  as  he  says,  have  a  certain 
self -conserving  power,  shown  in  the  neutralization 
of  perturbations  and  the  adjustment  to  new  condi- 
tions ;  and,  he  further  says,  "  the  penultimate  stage 
of  this  process,  in  which  the  extremest  degree  of 
multiformity  and  completest  form  of  moving  equi- 
librium is  established,  must  be  one  implying  the 
highest  conceivable  state  of  humanity."^  Mr. 
Spencer  cannot  be  suspected  of  speaking  either  at 
random  or  under  the  influence  of  any  blind  inspi- 
rational force.  When  he  speaks  of  the  "  highest 
conceivable  state  of  humanity,"  he  has  undoubt- 

1  Mind,  vol.  i.,  p.  309.  ^  j^ij-gf  Principles,  sec,  140. 


16  SPIRITUAL  SUBSTANCE. 

edly  some  mental  vision  of  a  perfect  social  state, 
and  this  "  completest  form  of  moving  equilibrium  " 
has  something  or  other  intelligible  to  do  with  it. 
It  is  in  the  same  connection  that  he  says,  "  The 
progressive  change  in  the  arrangement  of  mat- 
ter is  accompanied  by  a  parallel  change  in  the 
arrangement  of  motion.  Every  increase  in  the 
structural  complexity  of  things  involves  a  corre- 
sponding increase  in  their  functional  comi^lexity  ;  " 
which,  applied  to  his  "  highest  conceivable  state  of 
humanity,"  would  mean  that  social  states  of  high 
grade  have  corresponding  social  forces  or  spirits  of 
a  high  grade.^ 

It  is  one  of  the  disadvantages  in  the  study  of 
spiritual  phenomena,  however,  that  not  only  are 
we  trying  to  do  something  new  to  us,  but  the  very 
facts  we  seek  to  investigate  are  mostly  in  an  in- 

1  "  A  time  arrives  in  the  progress  of  social  development  when 
societies  of  men  become  conscioits  of  a  corporate  existence,  and 
when  the  improvement  of  the  conditions  of  this  existence  becomes 
for  them  an  object  of  conscious  and  deliberate  effort.  At  what 
particular  stage  in  human  history  this  new  social  force  comes 
into  play,  we  have  no  need  here  to  inquire.  What  I  am  concerned 
to  point  out  is  that  it  is  a  new  social  force.'' ^  J.  E.  Cairnes,  Fortn. 
Rev.,  vol.  xvii.,  p.  71  (New  Series).  It  is  not  true,  as  this  writer 
assumes,  and  as  most  writers  on  this  siibjeet  take  for  granted, 
that  the  social  force  or  spirit  is  dependent  upon  or  awaits  the  de- 
velopment of  the  social  consciousness.  This  is  where  the  school 
of  Hegel  commits  the  error  of  Plato  above  alluded  to,  and  turns 
aside  to  mythology,  "  wherewith  it  infects  all  its  natural  philo- 
sophy." Consciousness  is  not  a  force.  Social  forces  exist  w^here 
there  is  no  evidence  of  social  consciousness.  The  science  of 
social  forces  or  spirits  need  take  no  account  of  consciousness. 


METHODS  AND  FACTS  INCHOATE.  17 

choate  state.     Comte  remarked  that  the  science  of 
sociology  was  tardy  in  its  development, 

,  "^   .  '^^  .  r.  .        1     Methods  and 

not  only  because  oi  scarcity  oi  trained  facts  mcho- 
observers  but  because  the  phenomena 
themselves  were  yet  embryonic,  society  not  being 
old  enough  to  manifest  the  laws  of  its  organiza- 
tion; and  Guizot  felt  that  he  must  explain  some 
of  his  vao^ueness  on  the  score  that  "  civilization  is 
yet  in  its  infancy."  The  astronomer  sees  some 
things  as  nebulae  because  of  the  imperfections  of 
his  instruments,  and  he  sees  other  things  as  neb- 
ulse  because  they  are  nebulae.  Some  spiritual 
phenomena  look  cloudy  because  our  powers  of 
spiritual  discernment  are  weak,  and  others  because 
they  are  cloudy.  "  That  was  not  first  which  is 
spiritual  but  that  which  is  animal,"  ^  and  we  look  J 
out  into  the  youth  of  the  world  of  spirits,  where 
we  find  them  in  every  stage  of  growth,  imperfectly 
differentiated  and  integrated.  So  Van  Oosterzee,  . 
referring  to  the  late  appearance  in  history  of  the  / 
Holy  Spirit,  says  that  "  it  is  perhaps  to  be  attri- 
buted to  this  fact,  that  the  doctrine  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  cannot  be  presented  with  the  same  degree 
of  clearness  as  others,  and  still,  with  the  future 
development  of  the  spiritual  life  of  the  church 
awaits  its  own  full  development."  Few  indeed 
are  the  spiritual  forces  or  phenomena  which  can 
be  clearly  defined.^ 

1  1  Cor.  XV.  40. 

2  "  Intellectually  considered,  social  differentiation  lias  always 


18  FIELD   WORTH  INVESTIGATING. 

Yet  so  great  is  tlie  promise  of  fruits  from  a 
study  of  tliese  phenomena  that  it  is  worth  while  to 

face  some  discouragement  in  laying  the 
iuvestigat-     foundation   for   a   better   knowledge    of 

them.  Was  it  not  concerning  this  sub- 
ject that  Luther  said,  "  The  ore  still  lies  half  in 
the  mine  ?  "  When  we  measure  the  progress  which 
material  science  has  made  both  in  the  discovery 
and  in  the  application  of  truth,  since  it  ceased  to 
treat  the  material  forces  as  metaphysical  entities 
and  began  to  study  them  as  only  modes  of  motion 
although  true  forces,  we  are  encouraged  to  ask 
whether  a  similar  new  era  may  not  be  in  store  for 
the  science  of  sj)iritual  things  if  it  too  should  reso- 
lutely turn  aside,  for  a  time  only  it  may  be,  to 
consider  spiritual  phenomena  as  mere  modes  of 
social  action,  as  social  forces.  Perhaps  it  is  too 
soon  to  say  that  such  an  analogy  will  hold.  Mr. 
Spencer  may  or  may  not  have  had  something  of 
the  kind  in  his  thought,  however,  when  he  said: 
"  Those  familiar  with  the  present  aspect  of  science 
must  suspect  that  inferences  drawn  from  the  ulti- 

been  far  in  advance  of  social  integration.  As  in  tlie  solar  system 
the  outlying  members  —  the  planets  —  have  vastly  exceeded  the 
central  mass  —  the  sun  —  in  the  progress  which  they  have  made  to- 
ward the  dissipation  of  their  inherent  motion  and  the  integration 
of  their  constituent  matter,  so,  in  society,  while  individual  men 
have,  at  different  times  and  in  varying  degrees,  arrived  at  the  full 
consciousness  both  of  themselves  and  of  the  universe,  the  social 
mass,  the  supreme  psychic  centre  of  the  social  organism,  still  con- 
sists of  a  chaos  of  undifferentiated  elements  in  the  crude  homoge- 
neous state."     Lester  Ward,  Dynamical  Sociology.,  vol.  ii.,  p.  387. 


COMPLEXITY.  19 

mate  laws  of  force,  will  lead  to  the  investigation 
and  generalization  of  classes  of  facts  liitherto  un- 
examined." ^  And  it  may  be  that  such  a  study 
may  begin  to  remove  the  occasion  for  Professor 
Seeley's  reproach  that  ''  no  adequate  doctrine  of 
civilization  is  taught  among  us."  ^ 

Spiritual  phenomena  are  not  only  largely  incho- 
ate, they  are  exceedingly  manifold  in  their  forms, 
and  interpenetrate  and  combine  with  one 

-^  .        Complexity. 

another  and  with  other  phenomena  m 
more  ways  than  can  be  indicated.  Frequently 
a  vaguely  defined  spiritual  phenomenon  of  wide 
dimensions  finds  its  partial  manifestation  in  the 
shape  of  some  smaller  and  less  generic  spirit.  As 
we  reach  a  higher  point  of  view  spirits  which  ap- 
peared to  be  complete  in  themselves  are  seen  to 
be  but  special  forms  of  more  comprehensive  spir- 
its. The  spirit  of  enterprise,  or  the  spirit  of  un- 
trammeled  inquiry,  may  be  seen  to  be  but  a  par- 
ticular manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  the  age. 
Smaller  spirits  are  visible  to  some  to  whom  the 
larger  spirit  of  the  age  appears  to  be  an  abstrac- 

1  First  Principles,  see.  144. 

2  "  The  social  forces  only  need  to  be  investigated  as  tlie  rest 
have  been,  in  order  to  discover  ways  in  which  their  utility  can 
be  demonstrated.  Here  is  a  vast  field  of  true  scientific  exijloita- 
tion  as  yet  untracked."  Dynam.  Sociol,  vol.  i.,  p.  43.  "  The  great 
object  was  to  show  that  all  science  is  a  progress  from  the  sensible 
and  material  to  the  principle  of  Powers,  and  of  a  unity  in 
Powers.  .  .  .  The  conclusion  referred  to  the  discovery  of  a  still 
higher  identification  between  the  God  of  nature  and  the  God  of 
the  spirits."     Biography  of  F.  D.  Maurice,  vol.  i.,  p.  323. 


20  SPIRITUAL  AND  SOCIAL. 

tion.  A  spirit  renders  itself  effective  by  continu- 
ally assuming  these  more  specific  forms.  The 
spirit  of  anti  -  slavery  was  able  to  become  tre- 
mendously efficient  by  taking  on  personal  form  in 
John  Brown,  and  literary  form  in  "Uncle  Tom's 
Cabin." 

A  spiritual  phenomenon  is  essentially  a  social 
phenomenon.^  In  its  simplest  conceivable  form 
Spiritual  it  is  the  interjilay  of  forces  between  two 
and  social,  ^j,  j^-^Q^g  persous.  If  it  wcre  possible  to 
conceive  of  a  solitary  personality  at  all,  that 
person  could  be  thought  of  as  spiritual  only  in 
some  mythical  or  metaphysical  sense.  To  say 
that  a  person  is  a  spiritual  being  in  the  phenom- 
enal sense,  that  is,  to  say  that  he  can  be  seen  to 
be  a  spiritual  being,  is  to  say  that  he  is  a  social 
being  and  cannot  be  discovered  outside  of  social 
relationships.  There  may  be  an  imperfect  form 
of  social  relationship  which  is  not  spiritual,  but 
there  can  be  no  true  manifestation  of  spirit  which 
is  not  social.  There  may  be  a  spirit  in  literature, 
but  that  also  is  social.  A  spiritual  religion  is  a 
social  religion.  Professor  Toy  rightly  says  that 
religion,  like  language  and  ethics,  is  a  branch  of 
sociology.  "  Man's  thought,"  says  he,  "  keeps 
pace,  or  is  rather  identical  with  social  organiza- 
tion. .  .  .  Religion  must  grow  as  society  grows. 
...  A  large  social  life  is  an  essential  condition  of 

^  "  The  social  forces  are  the  psychic  forces  as  they  operate  in 
the  collective  state  of  man."  Lester  Ward,  Psychic  Factors,  p.  123. 


SPlEITUxiL  AND  SOCIAL.  21 

the  development  of  a  great  religion.  It  is  only  out 
of  a  national  organization  that  those  large  experi- 
ences spring  without  which  religious  systems  are 
narrow  and  unfruitful."  ^  It  is  one  of  the  worst 
of  falsehoods  that  religion  is  a  matter  of  individ- 
ual concern.  Even  when  one  enters  alone  into 
the  presence  of  God,  if  it  is  a  spiritual  approach, 
it  brings  him  into  a  social  relationship,  and  if  he 
be  without  the  true  social  nature  he  cannot  so  \ 
enter.  Likewise  spiritual  worship  is  not  possible 
unless  God  be  conceived  of  as  a  social  being. 
But  if  God  be  of  a  social  spirit,  and  a  worshiper 
of  an  unsocial  nature  come  before  him,  he  can 
hardly  do  otherwise  than  ask  him  "  Where  is  thy 
brother?"  Cardinal  Newman  seems  to  have  re- 
garded it  as  a  sign  of  his  own  deeply  religious 
nature  that  it  had  always  been  to  him  as  though 
he  and  God  were  the  only  two  persons  in  the  uni- 
verse. Manning,  on  the  other  hand,  seems  to 
have  had  as  genuine  a  personal  interest  in  the 
London  dock  laborer  as  in  God ;  and  he  was  the 
more  truly  spiritual  of  the  two.  So  we  find  that 
Abraham,  the  reputed  father  of  spiritual  religion, 
was  the  "  friend  "  of  God,  and  yet  was  at  the  same 
time  so  attached  to  his  nephew  that  not  only 
would  he  fight  the  king  of  Damascus  in  his  be- 
half, but  would  stand  up  and  argue  that  the  judge 
of  all  the  earth  ought  to  do  right  by  him,  —  so 
strong   was   the    social  spirit  in  Abraham.^      "  I 

1  Judaism  and  Christianity,  pp.  1,2,  7.    - 
^  Gen.  xiv.  ;  xviii.  28-33. 


22  INDIVIDUALISM. 

have  not  called  you  slaves,"  said  Jesus,  "I  have 
called  you  friends  ;  "  and  that  is  the  secret  of  the 
religious  worship  of  Jesus  to  this  day.  It  is  a 
development  of  social  democracy.  "  The  King- 
dom of  God  "  is  rightly  modernized  by  Dr.  Mul- 
ford  m  the  phrase,  "  The  Eepublic  of  God." 

Always  complementary,  however,  to  the  fact  of 
the  social  nature  of  spiritual  phenomena,  is  the 
other  fact  that  spiritual  forces  are  dependent  for 
Individual-  their  generation  and  focalization  upon 
^^^'  special  and  individualized  personalities. 

This  is  consistent  with  the  self-evident  fact  that 
strong  social  relationships  cannot  exist  between 
weak  individuals.  Society  _rests  upon  self-asser- 
tion _as- much  as  upon  self-surrencler ;  and  it  is 
through  the  individual  with  more  than  ordinary 
powers  of  self-assertion  that  the  spiritual  force 
gains  its  effectiveness.  Every  social  organism 
which  has  risen  to  the  spiritual  plane  has  been 
fruitful  in  great  personalities.  A  popular  move- 
ment which  has  no  place  for  exceptional  men, 
heroes  rising  above  the  average  and  guiding  the 
currents  of  popidar  interest,  is  the  dream  of  the 
communist,  and  is  doomed  to  failure ;  as  a  reign 
of  heroes  without  its  impulse  from  the  hearts  of 
the  people  is  the  fallacy  of  the  absolutist.  Al- 
ways before  a  new  step  forward  in  the  develop- 
ment of  spiritual  life  is  possible,  some  small  group 
of  men  or  some  one  man  must  concentrate  the 
diffused   spiritual  influences  and  give  to  them  a 


HISTORY.  23 

new  and  more  direct  activity.  A  spiritual  force 
is  a  social  force  ;  but  as  no  great  man  can  succeed 
without  a  constituency,  so  no  society  can  thrive 
without  its  great  men.  It  lives  in  them.  "  As  I 
take  it,"  says  Carlyle,  '*  universal  history,  the 
history  of  what  man  has  accomplished  in  this 
world,  is  at  bottom  the  history  of  the  great  men 
who  have  worked  here.  They  were  the  leaders  of 
men,  these  great  ones ;  the  modelers,  patterns  and 
in  a  wide  sense  creators,  of  whatsoever  the  general 
mass  of  men  contrived  to  do  or  attain ;  the  soul 
of  the  whole  world's  history,  it  may  justly  be  con- 
sidered, were  the  history  of  these."  ^  Social  life 
cannot  maintain  itself  upon  a  dead  level.  In- 
dividualism and  socialism  are  mutually  essential 
each  to  the  other,  and  a  spiritual  force,  because  it 
is  a  social  phenomenon,  depends  largely  upon  the 
genius  of  the  individual. 

Professor  Toy  understates  the  fact  when  he 
says  that  the  complete  religious  system  depends 
upon  a  national  organization  of  society.  If  a  re- 
ligion would  be  truly  ecumenical  it  must 
come  indeed  from  a  national  organiza- 
tion, but  from  one  which  stands  in  organic  rela- 
tions to  universal  history.  ^  The  completion  of 
human  development  is  dependent  upon  the  nation 
as  it  is  upon  the  family  or  the  individual.  A 
cosmopolitanism  which  is  the  mere  result  of  the 

1  Hero  Worship. 

2  Kuenen,  Hibbert  Lectures  for  ISSS,  Lect.  I. 


24  CENTRES   OF  HISTORY. 

loosening  of  the  ties  of  patriotism  is  no  true  cos- 
mopolitanism, as  a  republic  is  no  true  republic, 
though  Plato  devise  it,  which  ignores  the  family 
tie.  Only  that  history  is  worthy  of  the  name 
which  tends  to  the  fulfillment  of  national  organ- 
isms in  international  relationships.  Such  history 
is  the  flower  of  humanity,  and  hence  of  the  uni- 
verse, and  in  connection  with  such  a  history  the 
truly  universal  religion  can  flourish.  The  most 
important  subject  of  investigation  both  for  socio- 
logical and  for  theological  purposes  is  universal 
history,  if  it  can  be  discovered  that  such  a  thing 
exists :  that  is,  if  anywhere  there  has  been  a  course 
of  events  which  has  had  nationalities  for  its  or- 
ganic units,  and  which  has  itself  been  an  organism 
and  maintained  organic  relations,  past  or  prospec- 
tive, with  the  whole  of  mankind. 

Most  nearly  answering  to  such  conception  of  an 
organic  course  of  history  is  that  which  was  being 
Centres  of  ©uacted  about  the  shores  of  the  Mediter- 
history.  raucau  Sea  some  two  and  three  thousand 
years  ago.  All  of  that  which  has  since  reached 
the  dignity  of  history  is  derived  from  that,  and  it 
is  the  manifest  destiny  of  the  whole  to  be  brought 
into  its  current.  While  the  geographical  centre  of 
history  has  left  the  Mediterranean,  it  did  so  in 
such  a  way  as  not  to  destroy  the  historical  continu- 
ities, and  the  mind  of  man  will  never  be  permitted 
to  forget  that  about  those  favored  shores  were  be- 
ing prepared  that  spiritual  wealth,  the  wealth  of 


T]VO  FACTORS  IN  HISTORY.  25 

possible  personal  relationships,  which  is  so  rich  a 
legacy  to  us.  It  is  probable  indeed  that  history- 
began  elsewhere,  and  that  its  focal  point  traveled 
to  as  it  has  since  traveled  from  the  Great  Sea.  Its 
course  may  yet  be  successfully  traced.  It  may  be 
discovered  that  the  many  outlying  and  seemingly 
detached  and  half  historical  or  unhistorical  por- 
tions of  humanity  actually  belong  to  one  history 
as  they  belong  to  one  race.  What  is  of  greater 
interest  is  that  it  may  appear  that  there  is  to  be 
but  one  universal  historical  movement,  which  is  to 
sweep  into  its  current  and  assimilate  to  its  general 
type,  and  carry  in  its  general  direction,  all  those 
masses  of  humanity  that  now  seem  stranded,  wait- 
ing for  the  tide  of  organic  human  life  to  rise  high 
enough  to  lift  them. 

If  such  universal  historical  organism  is  in  exist- 
ence, with  its  possibilities  for  the  future  of  the 
race,  it  is  the  one  phenomenon  in  all  the  Two  factors 
world  most  deserving  of  study.  And  i^^^^tory. 
those  things  in  it  most  worthy  of  investigation  will 
be  of  two  kinds,  personalities  and  spiritual,  or,  as 
they  may  with  equal  propriety  be  called,  social 
forces.  If  any  one  personality  or  any  one  spirit- 
ual force  outranks  all  the  others,  that  person  or 
that  spirit  will  deserve  to  have  the  most  considera- 
tion. It  w^ould  be  strange,  too,  seeing  how  inti- 
mately interrelated  individual  persons  and  spiritual 
forces  always  have  been,  if  such  supremely  impor- 
tant personage  and  such  supremely  important  spirit 


26  THE  NEW  SPIRITUAL  FOBCE. 

did  not  occupy  close  mutual  relations.  If  it  be 
true,  as  may  be  here  assumed,  that  the  personality 
of  Jesus  of  Nazareth  has  succeeded  in  putting 
itself  into  human  history  and  winning  a  place  of 
preeminence,  so  that  from  him  forward  and  back- 
ward the  world  rightly  dates  its  eras,  it  need  occa- 
sion no  surprise,  if  a  spiritual  factor  be  discovered 
closely  identified  with  his  personality,  sharing  with 
it  the  throne  of  power  and  the  creatorship  of  the 
future. 

A  remarkable  event  is   said   to  have  occurred 
soon  after  the  final  departure  of  Jesus,  and  to  have 
signalized  the  entrance  into  history  of  a 
SirS        specifically  new  agent,  —  his  spirit.     In 
^''''''^*  its  essential  features  the  story  is  credible 

and  probable,  both  upon  the  basis  of  any  fair  esti- 
mate of  what  had  just  happened,  and  because  from 
that  day  forward  a  spiritual  force  answering  to  the 
description  of  it  is  to  be  observed  in  active  opera- 
tion. There  is  moreover  a  strong  probability,  upon 
psychological  grounds,  that  that  force  would  appear 
as  a  sudden  irruption  in  the  manner  described.  It 
would  be  almost  as  proper  to  date  the  era  from 
that  Pentecostal  effusion  as  from  the  birth  of  Jesus. 
It  is  of  equal  importance  and  as  essential  to  the 
founding  of  his  kingdom  in  the  world,  as  he  in 
turn  was  essential  to  its  appearance  and  operation. 
Yet  it  was  not  altogether  a  new  thing ;  for  as  one 
cannot  write  an  adequate  history  of  Jesus  who  be- 
gins only  at  his  birth,  so  the  operation  of  that  spirit 


THE  SPIRIT  OF  MOSES.  27 

is  to  be  discovered  long  before  that  occurrence.  It 
is  discerjiibly  present  throughout  the  whole  of  that 
specialized  course  of  history  which  led  up  to  and 
made  possible  the  birth  of  such  an  one  as  the  man 
of  Nazareth.  It  is  in  fact  the  specializing  element 
in  that  history.  It  is  because  of  its  presence  and 
persistence  that  that  history  took  and  followed  — 
and  when  it  swerved  from  it  for  a  time  always  re- 
turned to  —  its  particular  path,  and  so  kept  on 
until  it  eventuated  in  the  way  it  did. 

Naturally  in  the  earlier  stages  of  that  special 
history  the  appearances  of  the  spirit  are  elusive, 
and  the  difficulty  in  tracing  its  opera-  The  spirit 
tions  in  chronological  order  is  increased  ^^  ^o^^- 
by  the  fact  that  the  history  itself  of  those  early 
times  was  rewritten  under  its  inspiration.  It  is 
not  always  easy  to  say  how  much  of  it  which  ap- 
pears in  the  history  as  written  was  in  that  history 
as  acted.  To  determine  that  would  require  a  more 
exhaustive  critical  investigation  than  can  here  be 
attempted.  The  loss  of  the  advantage,  however, 
which  would  accrue  from  such  critical  inquiry  need 
occasion  less  regret,  since  the  larger  results  of  our 
study  would  not  be  much  changed  by  taking  an 
extreme  position  either  way.^    It  is  significant  that 

1  In  the  absence  of  an  independent  determination,  the  lucid 
arrangement  in  Bruce's  Apologetics  has  been  adopted  in  a  general 
way  for  this  and  the  next  lecture.  Those  to  whom  its  conserva- 
tism is  offensive  may  remember  that  others  are  still  more  offended 
by  its  liberalism.  If  it  be  true,  as  is  here  contended,  that  this 
spiritual  force  is  the  specific  factor  in  Hebrew  life  and  literature, 


28      CONTRAST  WITH  THE  EGYPTIAN  SPIRIT. 

critics  are  more  ready  to  admit  the  antiquity  of  the 
specific  spirit  of  Hebrew  history  than  of  much  that 
purports  to  be  history  itself.  That  Moses  did  the 
particular  things  in  detail  attributed  to  him  might 
be  denied  by  many  who  would  readily  admit  that 
a  hero  of  that  name  lived  and  imparted  imperish- 
able spiritual  qualities  to  that  history.  The  one 
most  characteristic  work  attributed  to  Moses,  and 
which  is  insisted  upon  as  his  by  many  who  are  not 
disposed  to  insist  upon  much  else,  is  the  Decalogue. 
Yet  there  are  many  "  who  doubt  or  deny  the  Mo- 
saic origin  of  the  Ten  Words,  while  admitting  that 
they  reflect  the  spirit  of  the  Mosaic  religion."  ^ 
We  may,  therefore,  regard  it  as  a  moderately  ten- 
able position  if  we  assume  that  we  know  what  was 
the  spirit  of  Moses,^  and  that  that  spirit  exercised 
such  specializing  influence  as  was  exercised  in  the 
beginnings  of  Hebrew  history. 

As  this  brings  us  back  to  the  period  of  contact 
with  Egypt,  we  are  led  to  note  the  contrast  between 
Contrast  ^^^^  Mosaic  Spirit  as  manifested  in  the 
E'^ptiSTn  Decalogue  and  the  spirit  of  Egyptian  re- 
spirit,  ligion  and  life.     The  one  appeals  to  man 

then  the  desired  consensus  of  opinion  upon  these  matters  cannot 
be  expected  to  antedate  the  scientific  study  of  this  force.  From 
our  point  of  view,  therefore,  it  would  be  premature  to  attempt 
other  than  a  tentative  chronology. 

1  Bruce,  A2)ologetics,  p.  209. 

2  "  We  shall,  therefore,  at  most  be  able  to  arrive  at  the  spirit 
of  Mosaism."  "  There  is  no  doubt  that  he  sought  to  impress  his 
spirit  upon  the  elect  of  his  nation,  and  thus  provide  himself  with 
successors  in  his  work."    Piepenbring,  Tlieol.  of  0.  T.,  pp.  10,  11. 


ETHICAL   TONE.  29 

on  his  nobler,  the  other  on  his  meaner  side.  The 
Decalogue  makes  no  reference  to  rewards  or  pun- 
ishments after  death.  The  omission  cannot  be 
due  to  ignorance  of  such  a  doctrine  ;  for  Egyptian 
life  was  built  wholly  upon  it,  and  there  is  no  lack 
of  evidence  that  the  authors  of  Mosaism,  whoever 
they  may  have  been,  were  acquainted  with  Egypt. 
By  this  doctrine  of  future  rewards  and  punish- 
ments the  Egyptians  had  been  brought  into  a  futile 
and  childish  battle  with,  and  a  non-moral  prepara- 
tion for  death,  and  as  a  consequence  an  utter  bond- 
age to  priestcraft  in  its  worst  forms.  The  whole 
attitude  of  the  Egyptian  towards  the  subject  was 
foolish,  selfish,  morbid,  slavish  :  it  smelled  of  the 
charnel  house,  and  has  perpetuated  that  taint  to 
this  day.  It  was  a  mephitic  spirit  like  a  miasm 
from  the  swamps  of  the  lower  Nile.  The  whole- 
some tone  of  the  Hebrew  reacted  ao'ainst  this.  In- 
stead  of  saying,  Do  right  for  Osiris  is  to  judge  ^ 
you,  it  says.  Do  right  for  Jehovah  has  been  good 
to  you.  The  appeal  is  to  gratitude.  Moreover,  / 
where  elsewhere  rewards  are  promised  or  punish-  '^ 
ments  threatened  the  Hebrew,  they  are  not  per-  / 
sonal  as  in  the  Egyptian  system,  where  the  aj^peal 
is  to  selfishness  ;  they  are  national,  and  appeal  to 
the  generous  spirit  of  patriotism. 

A  similar  contrast  is  noticeable  in  the  contents 
of  the  Decalogue,  as  compared  with,  for  Ethical 
instance,   the    precepts   enjoined  in   the  ^^^^' 
Egyptian  "  Book  of  the  Dead."    The  fundamental 


30  ETHICAL   TONE. 

Hebrew  law  excludes  everything  of  a  merely  ritual 
character,  while  the  Eg-yptian  mingles  promiscu- 
ously the  sins  of  uncleanness,  perjury,  injustice, 
inhumanity,  with  those  of  neglecting  religious  cer- 
emonies, trapping  sacred  birds,  lifting  sacred  cat- 
tle, or  letting  the  perpetual  lamp  go  out.  The 
Hebrew  had  mastered  the  distinction,  as  the  Egyp- 
tian had  not,  between  moral  duties  and  technical 
religious  ceremonies. ^  The  God  who  is  thought  of 
as  requiring  only  obedience  to  moral  law  is  one 
who  seeks  men's  own  good  and  not  his  own.  Such 
is  the  God  of  the  Decalogue.  That  code  is  wholly 
moral,  not  only  in  the  sense  of  being  free  from 
ceremonial  elements,  but  in  the  sense  that  all  of 
its  provisions  aim  at  the  good  of  men  themselves 
or  their  neighbors. 

The  custom  of  distinguishing  between  the  first 
and  second  tables  as  respecting  duties  to  God  and 
duties  to  men,  is  responsible  for  the  frequent  fail- 
ure to  perceive  this.  All  duties  are  duties  to  God, 
and  all  specific  duties  are  owing  to  ourselves  or 
our  fellows.  If  the  distinction  between  the  two 
tables  is  to  be  maintained,  it  might  with  as  much 
propriety  be  said  that  the  first  table  consists  of 
duties  to  ourselves,  and  forbids  vices,  while  the  sec- 
ond consists  of  duties  to  our  fellows,  and  forbids 
crimes  ;  while  all  consist  of  duties  to  God,  and 
forbid  sins.  The  prohibition  of  i)olytheism  is  a 
charter  of  freedom  from  too  much  religion  of  low 

1  Bruce,  Apologetics,  p.  217. 


ETHICAL   TONE.  Bl 

quality,  and  has  its  occasion  in  the  evils  which  the 
worship  of  many  gods  had  entailed  upon  Egypt. 
The  fascinations  of  image-worship,  and  the  vices 
and  degradation  which  grew  out  of  it,  also  stood 
out  as  a  warning.  In  the  same  category  was  the 
use  of  the  divine  names  as  conjurors'  catchwords, 
which  degraded  those  names  and  robbed  them  of 
their  value  as  vehicles  of  liigher  aspiration  and 
true  religious  worship.  These  prohibitions  in  the 
first  three  commandments  were  all  for  their  own 
good  and  that  of  their  neighbors  and  children. 
They  were  equivalent  to  the  warning  not  to  make 
a  vice  of  religion,  not  to  poison  the  fountain  of 
true  religious  life,  not  to  block  the  avenues  of  true 
personal  intercourse  between  God  and  man,  —  not 
for  God's  sake  so  much  as  for  their  own.^  The 
institution  or  resuscitation  of  the  Sabbath  had  a 
humanitarian  rather  than  a  ritual  motive;  the 
Deuteronomic  edition  of  the  code  gives  the  truer 
insiaht  into  it.^  It  was  established  as  an  offset  to 
the  life  of  slavery  which  had  brought  all  days  to 
the  common  level  of  unsanctified  drudgery,  and  in 
spirit  its  chief  emphasis  was  upon  the  enjoinment 
that  dependents  be  permitted  the  privileges  of  the 
day  of  rest.     If  the  distinction  between  the  two 

1  *'  Is  it  not  self-evident  that  the  only  motive  God  Ccan  have  in 
giving  or  making  known  a  law  is  the  well-being  of  man  ?  But 
as  he  does  not  impose  any  law  for  the  mere  sake  of  imposing  it, 
so  he  does  not  impose  or  make  known  any  law  for  his  o\vn  sake." 
Stanley  Leathes,  Foundations  of  Morality,  p.  67. 

2  Deut.  V.  G-21. 


32  THE  BITUAL. 

tables  is  to  be  emphasized,  this  fourth  command- 
ment belongs  rather  to  the  second  than  to  the  first 
table.  The  universalistic  character  of  the  second 
table  is  acknowledged.  The  first  is  equally  uni- 
versal when  viewed  from  the  moral  side.  The 
whole  is  characteristically  human,  and  valid  for  all 
mankind. 

The  humanitarian  rather  than  religious  charac- 
ter of  the  Decalogue  is  rather  in  its  spirit  than  in 
Spirit  rather  wliat  wc  may  Call  its  idea.  Undoubtedly 
thau  idea.  '^g  autlior  was  ruled  by  religious  concep- 
tions, and  spoke  in  the  name  of  Jehovah,  and  put 
forth  at  least  some  of  this  legislation  in  what  might 
be  said  to  be  Jehovah's  interest.  Perhaps  the 
whole  of  it  would  have  been  justified  to  his  own 
consciousness  on  the  ground  that  Jehovah  desired 
it  for  his  own  sake.  Yet  it  is  easy  to  jjerceive  that 
while  its  purpose  was  religious,  its  sj^irit  was  hu- 
manitarian. The  Mosaic  religion  differed  from 
the  Egyptian  and  prompted  to  the  enjoinment  of 
different  duties  in  a  different  way  from  that  of  the 
Egyptian,  because  the  Mosaic  spirit  was  so  dis- 
tinctly humanitarian.     It  humanized  the  religion. 

To  say  that  the  Mosaic  legislation  is  distinc- 
tively non-ritual  is  not  to  deny  that  the  ritual 
legislation  of  the  Pentateuch  may  have 
been  Mosaic  in  substance,  or  even  to  a 
great  extent  in  detail.  The  substance  of  the  ritual 
is  probably  not  only  as  old  as  Moses,  but  much 
older.    It  would  have  been  impossible,  had  it  been 


FAITH  IN   THE  PEOPLE.  33 

wise,  for  him  to  abolish  it.  His  legislation  in  such 
matters  could  only  have  been  regulative  and  re- 
strictive. If  ritual  could  be  kept  in  its  place  it 
could  be  of  great  service  as  a  means  to  the  culture 
of  genuine  piety  and  righteousness.  Even  as  re- 
gards the  ritual,  therefore,  the  Mosaic  sj^irit  is  in 
it,  whether  his  hand  was  there  or  not,  and  this  is 
manifest  by  the  effort,  not  to  create  or  enjoin  it, 
but  so  to  bring  it  under  control,  that  on  the  one 
hand  it  should  not  breed  frivolity  or  licentious- 
ness, and  on  the  other  hand  should  be  the  servant 
and  not  the  superior  or  the  equal  of  the  law  of 
righteousness. 

Another  noteworthy  illustration  of  the  humani- 
tarian spirit  of  the  Mosaic  movement  appears  in 
the  fact  that,  whoever  may  have  been  re-  p,jith  in  the 
sjionsible  for  it,  it  is  marked  by  a  break-  p^'^p^^- 
ing  away  from  the  esoteric  principle  which  kept 
the  higher  faith  of  that  age  the  exclusive  property 
of  the  few.  Not  only  a  benevolent  regard  for  but 
a  hearty  faith  in  men  was  involved  in  that  act  by 
which  the  purer  doctrine  and  morals  in  all  their 
majesty  and  simplicity  were  given  away  to  a  body 
of  escaped  slaves.  This  has  been  well  expressed 
by  a  recent  story-writer  who  makes  one  of  his 
characters,  an  Egyptian  priest,  speak  to  a  Hebrew 
youth  as  follows :  "  In  the  days  of  the  great  Ba- 
rneses thy  people  were  shepherds  in  Goshen.  A 
child  of  the  race,  the  son  of  Amram,  was  adopted 
by  the  daughter  of  the  Pharaoh,  and  sat  among  the 


34  SEMITIC  SPIRIT. 

priests  of  the  realm.  At  On  and  at  Thebes  he 
was  taught,  .  .  .  and  was  initiated  into  the  pro- 
foundest  m3^steries  of  our  ancient  faith,  truths 
known  at  any  one  time  to  but  seven  souls  in  all 
Egypt.  In  time  he  fled  to  Midian.  There  he 
pondered  these  mysteries,  and  the  Soul  of  the  Gods 
talked  with  him.  Then  he  came  and  led  out  his 
people.  At  Sinai  he  told  them  all,  brickmakers 
and  herdsmen,  what  in  Egypt  was  reserved  for  the 
innermost  circle  of  the  priesthood,  .  .  .  The  future 
is  with  thy  people.  .  .  .  Set  free  by  that  voice  at 
Horeb,  the  son  of  Amram  could  make  a  nation  of 
priests."  ^  Here  is  no  faint  glimmer  of  the  spirit 
of  him  who  desired  his  disciples  to  keep  no  secrets 
but  to  proclaim  from  the  housetops  all  that  he  had 
taught  them  in  private,  and  who  had  more  faith  in 
the  capacity  for  truth  of  outcasts,  than  in  the  high- 
est scholarship  of  the  age  if  it  was  rided  by  pride. 
Another  fundamental  contrast  which  coidd  not 
have  failed  to  affect  the  mind  of  the  creator  of  the 
Semitic  Dccaloguc,  is  fouud  in  the  fact  that  he 
spirit.  confronted  not  only  Egypt  but  also  the 

Semitic  peoples  with  their  Baals,  so  conceived  as 
to  insure  the  prevalence  of  licentiousness  and  sa- 
cred prostitution.  Semitic  heathenism  is  stamped 
with  immentionable  vileness,  and  with  the  cruelty 
and  treachery  that  always  accompany  sensuality. 
No  true  social  relationship,  and  consequently  no 
enduring  civilization,  could  exist  under  the  Baals. 

1  The  Son  of  a  Prophet,  G.  A  Jackson,  pp.  323,  326. 


PROBABLY  VERY  ANCIENT.  35 

The  spirit  of  Mosaism  revolted  against  the  Semitic 
cult  as  it  did  against  the  Egyptian. 

Thus  at  the  beginning  of  Hebrew  history,  what- 
ever else  may  be  difficult  of  determination,  the 
spirit  is  unmistakable.  It  is  admitted  where  more 
material  historical  data  are  denied  or  doubted.  It 
is  not  necessary,  therefore,  to  enter  the  critical 
arena  to  vindicate  its  assertion.  It  is  the  kind  of 
spirit  too  which  we  have  agreed  to  observe,  one  of 
the  purely  phenomenal  type.  If  any  would  affirm 
a  spirit  of  another  class,  one  which  entered  the 
world  of  phenomena  from  without,  and  produced 
effects  whose  causes  could  not  be  regarded  as  be- 
longing to  the  visible  universe,  it  is  neither  nec- 
essary nor  possible  to  dispute  with  him.  He  is 
simply  engaged  in  another  field  of.  research,  by  an- 
other method,  perhaps  as  legitimate  in  its  way  as 
ours.  In  the  world  of  observable  phenomena, 
however,  this  Hebrew  spirit  is  found,  of  undeniable 
reality,  fairly  distinguishable  as  an  independent 
fact,  a  specific  force  or  cause. 

It  is  a  secondary  phenomenon,  to  be  sure,  as  all 
spirits  of  this  class  are.  It  is  spirit  o/*  something. 
Precisely  what  it  is  the  spirit  of  is  as  yet 

^  .  .   1  T     Probably 

difficult  to  determme  with  exactness,  and  very  an- 
in  this  lies  the  promise  ot  its  further  de- 
velopment.    It  is  the  spirit  of  Moses ;  yet  hints 
are  not  wanting  that  to  Moses  it  came  from  per- 
sons or  traditions,  or  possibly  literary  fragments, 
abeady  well  charged  with  spiritual  energy.     The 


36  BETTERMENT  BATHER  THAN  PERFECTION. 

story  has  the  marks  of  triithlikeness  which  inti- 
mate that  the  specific  influences  came  from  the 
ancient  Hebrew  traditions,  but  that  Moses  was  hos- 
pitable to  spiritual  tendencies  from  other  sources ; 
so  that  in  him  may  have  been  localized  vague  and 
diffused  spiritual  potencies  to  which  his  personal- 
ity gave  a  coherency  and  definite  impulse,  some- 
what analogous  to  that  which  was  given  in  more 
perfect  measure  by  that  prophet  "  like  unto  him," 
who  came  at  the  end  of  the  national  develo23ment. 
In  many  respects  the  023erations  and  manifesta- 
tions of  this  spirit  were  only  inchoate.  It  touched 
life   with   meliorating   rather   than  per- 

Betterment       p.  tttiit 

rathei  than  lectiug  powcr.  it  declared  that  divorce 
and  slavery  should  be  under  more  or  less 
beneficent  restrictions.  It  attempted  to  secure  for 
the  poor  and  the  stranger  a  fair  measure  of  equity. 
It  restrained  religious  extravagances,  and  sought  to 
avoid  making  religion  the  pander  to  lust,  or  the  in- 
strument of  j)riestcraft.  It  could  have  gone  no 
farther  than  this  without  wholly  losing  its  touch 
with  the  peojile.  As  it  was  it  kej^t  far  enough  in 
advance  of  the  age  to  be  frequently  lost  sight  of. 
It  is  not  probable  that  this  accommodation  to  the 
circumstances  of  the  time  was  conscious  on  the  part 
of  the  founder  of  the  nation,  and  the  framer  of  its 
legislation.  It  is  more  likely  that  his  own  vision 
did  not  extend  nearly  as  far  as  may  appear  to  us, 
that  he  was  guided  by  a  sjiirit  of  whose  range  he 
was   unaware,  and  whose   angle  of  curvature  no 


SOCIAL  FORCE.  37 

mind  had  worked  out,  a  spirit  which,  so  far  as  ap- 
peared in  the  phenomenal  world,  was  still  less  than 
half  formed. 

Yet  though  but  inceptive,  as  the  embryo  gives 
promise  and  seems  to  contain  the  potency  of  the 
full-grown  organism,  so  this  spirit  has  in  spiritual 
it  that  which  fulfilled  itself  in  Jesus,  ee^m. 
Its  operations  are  manifold,  and  the  illustrations  of 
it  here  referred  to  are  but  a  few  among  the  many 
that  might  be  adduced.  It  has  been  found,  like 
all  spirits  of  this  kind,  to  be  dependent  for  its 
manifestation  upon  special  individuals.  Those  who 
deny  to  Moses  the  prominent  place  which  tradition 
assigns  him  in  the  early  history  of  Israel,  simply 
on  the  ground  of  the  tendency  of  antiquity  to  mag- 
nify the  individual,  forget  that  antiquity  was  not 
far  wrong  in  regarding  the  biography  of  the  few 
as  the  history  of  the  many.  Moses  may  not  have 
performed  all  the  deeds  ascribed  to  him.  But  it  is 
fairly  certain  that,  with  the  help  of  a  few  others, 
he  infused  into  Hebrew  history  that  spirit  which 
never  afterwards  ceased  to  characterize  it. 

At  the  same  time  it  was  in  the  fullest  sense  a 
social  spirit.  That  concerning  which  there  is  a 
complete  consensus  of   opinion  with   re- 

c     1       TT  1  Social  force. 

gard  to  the  founder  of  the  Hebrew  state 
was  his  disinterestedness.  He  lived  in  and  for  others. 
And   his    interest  was  for   men  as  such,  so  that 
he  preferred  a  miserable  mob  of  runaway  slaves 
to  the  magnificence  of  court  life.     That  at  least 


38  CREATIVE. 

is  tlie  spirit  of  Mosaism.  The  specific  thing  about 
the  spirit  of  the  Hebrew  nation  is  that  it  sets  to 
work  to  develop  and  better  manhood  in  its  true 
character,  in  its  distinctively  human  possibilities. 
It  is  for  the  peoj)le.  Its  great  men  came  from  and 
live  for  the  people.  Its  heroes  always  have  a  con- 
stituency ;  it  is  not  always,  indeed,  a  very  loyal  or 
admirable  one ;  they  are  not  always  admirable 
themselves ;  yet  on  the  whole  they  are  sufficiently 
representative,  so  that  there  will  be  those  to  keep 
their  memory  green  and  perpetuate  their  influence. 
They  are  sure  of  posterity  at  any  rate. 

As  a  social  force  this  spirit   socializes   religion, 

and  imposes  upon  its  conceptions  and  usages   the 

laws  of   right   human   relationships.     It 

Creative.  ,  i         p         'i      f  p  ii  i 

improves  the  family  lite  and  begets  the 
nation.  What  it  is  particularly  concerned  in  when 
it  first  comes  within  the  field  of  our  observation 
is  nation-making.  At  the  same  time  it  has  in 
it  elements  of  true  universalism.  It  forms  a 
nation  out  of  most  diverse  elements,  probably  but 
a  small  proportion  of  the  original  components  of 
the  Hebrew  state  being  pure-blooded  Israelites. 
It  welcomes  the  foreigner  and  permits  him  to 
amalgamate  and  gain  citizenship.  It  refuses  alli- 
ances with  other  nations  for  excellent  reasons,  one 
of  which  was  that  an  alliance  with  one  involved 
hostility  toward  all  others.  Cosmopolitanism  in 
social  and  religious  and  political  matters  that 
involved  sharing  the  vices  and  superstitions  and 


CREATIVE.  39 

feuds  of  outside  peoples,  it  shunned.  True  cosmo- 
politanism in  the  way  of  genuine  incorporation  of 
strangers  into  its  own  life,  fair  diplomatic  give  and 
take,  and  religious  universalism,  it  encouraged. 

Thus  we  are  able  to  perceive  at  the  beginning 
of  the  Hebrew  national  development  a  spirit  at 
Avork,  which,  if  it  ever  fulfils  its  promise,  is  des- 
tined to  socialize  all  human  relationships ;  and,  as 
a  means  to  and  a  result  of  this,  fully  to  socialize 
religion  and  thereby  theology.  This  is  the  spe- 
cific factor  in  Hebrew  history. 


II. 

In  tlie  anarchical  independence  which  marked 
the  period  of  the  Judges  in  Israel,  one  would  not 
Ageof  disor-  ^^  ^^'st  rccognize  the  same  spirit  which 
gauization.  operated  in  the  creative  age  of  Moses. 
Close  observation,  however,  shows  that  these  events 
are  caused  by  the  same  spiritual  influence  adapt- 
ing itself  to  changed  conditions.  The  age  when 
each  man  did  what  was  right  in  his  own  eyes  was 
in  fact  one  of  the  most  distinctive  products  of  the 
early  Hebrew  sj^irit,  even  that  of  Moses  himself. 
For  he  had  a  spell  of  lawlessness  growing  out  of 
an  inherent  disrespect  for  that  law  which  was  made 
for  the  benefit  of  the  few  and  the  oppression  of  the 
many.  If  that  part  of  Moses'  biography  is  a  myth 
it  is  the  work  of  an  extraordinarily  skillfid  myth- 
maker.  Moses'  flight  to  Midian  was  caused  by  his 
characteristic  and  manly  disinterestedness ;  and 
when  the  Hebrew  tribes  refused  for  some  centuries 
to  settle  down  to  civilized  life  they  obeyed  the 
promptings  of  the  same  spirit.  The  civilizations 
about  them  were  artificial  and  moribund.  A  re- 
turn to  nature  and  savagery  was  better  than  such 
civilization  :  and  so  these  tribes,  abiding  the  time 
when  they  could  begin  to  evolve  the  elements  of  a 


THE  SPIRIT  AND   THE  LAND.  41 

social  order  of  their  own,  preferred  to  live  in  out- 
lawry, submitting  occasionally,  in  an  emergency,  to 
rude  arbitrators  wlio  showed  native  strenoth  and 
instincts  of  justice.  Such  a  policy  was,  of  course, 
never  consciously  proposed ;  but  the  spirit  of  him 
who  defied  Egyptian  law,  and  fled  from  even  the 
highest  advantages  of  its  culture,  had  imparted  this 
instinct  to  them.  There  have  been  civilizations 
that  were  worse  than  nothing,  and  such  would  have 
been  the  best  they  could  have  borrowed.  They 
must  create  one  of  their  own.  The  Ked  Indian 
cruelty  and  relentlessness,  as  Kenan  calls  it,  of  the 
Hebrews  of  that  period  were  hardly  exceptional,  — 
they  were  but  the  birth  pangs  of  a  new  civiliza- 
tion ;  and  all  birth  is  cruel.  "  Nations  at  their 
birth  are  ferocious."  ^ 

The  very  choice  of  a  location  for  these  tribes 
was  in  no  small  part  prompted  by  that  spirit. 
For  they  were  on  one  of  those  spots  of  ^^^  gpi^j^ 
ground  which  nature  had  designed  as  the  ^ud  the  land, 
refuge  of  those  who  could  not  live  in  harmony  with 
any  of  the  established  orders.  All  creators  of  new 
civilizations  must  face  outlawry  from  the  old.  A 
band  of  outlaws  built  imperial  Rome  on  the  worth- 
less section  of  rock  and  marsh,  where  deadly  fevers 
and  the  triangular  jealousies  of  three  powerful 
states  guaranteed  to  them  a  kind  of  turbulent  se- 
curity ;  and  myth  was  doubtless  not  all  myth  when 
it  attributed  to  them  from  the  first  somethinof  of 

1  Renan,  History  of  People  of  Israel^  vol.  i.,  pp.  19G-198. 


42  EABLY  MOVEMENTS. 

the  spirit  of  empire-building,  tliougli  their  ideas 
may  have  been  narrow,  and  their  motives  sordid 
enough.  Likewise  Israel's  position  was  not  all  of 
chance.  The  men  chose  the  place  as  much  as  the 
place  made  the  men.  The  two  had  an  affinity. 
In  an  age  of  repression  and  hollowness  and  vice, 
when  nothing  genuine  or  free  or  progressive  was 
tolerated,  when  dead  and  empty  and  corrupt  con- 
ventionalisms were  supreme  throughout  civiliza- 
tion, men  could  breathe  deeply  only  on  the  frontiers. 
The  strong,  the  natural,  the  unconventional  rallied 
then,  as  they  do  to-day,  upon  the  geographical  or 
religious  or  philosophical  boundaries,  where  as 
frontiersmen  they  laid  the  foundation  of  future 
empires  whose  superstructures  they  were  not  to 
see.  Thus  Israel  found  opportunity  to  begin  to 
solve  the  problem  of  destiny  in  a  land  where  he 
could  remain  barbarous  as  long  as  his  best  instincts 
required ;  while  yet  he  was  in  such  contact  with  all 
civilization  as  to  permit  the  exercise  of  his  selec- 
tive spirit  upon  elements  which  might  be  desirable. 
It  is  not  improbable  that  this  spirit  very  early 
began  to  exert  its  influence  in  choosing  the  natural 
Early  move-  couditious  uudcr  which  the  Hebrew 
°'^"*^"  nation   was   to   spend   its   youth.      The 

stream  of  spiritual  impulse  spontaneously  flows, 
like  other  forces,  along  the  lines  of  least  resistence, 
and  these  lines  had  always  led  towards  Palestine. 
Ever  since  the  centres  of  civilization  had  begun  to 
group  themselves  about   the   Mediterranean   that 


CONSTRUCTION  BEGINS.  43 

land  Lad  held  a  place  of  strategic  importance,  and 
it  is  probable  that,  for  ages  bfefore  the  Hebrew 
exodus,  it  had  been  the  goal  of  those  who  sought 
new  scenes  to  live  greater  and  more  human  lives 
than  could  be  permitted  elsewhere.  That  Abra- 
ham sought  it  from  similar  motives  has  an  air  of 
probability,  as  also  that  he  found  and  reverenced 
others  who  had  come  before  him  under  the  guid- 
ance of  the  same  spirit.^  The  existence  on  Mount 
Moriah  of  a  sanctuary  whose  priesthood  was  ex- 
ceptionally pure  has  been  recently  shown.  ^  It  is 
not  incredible,  therefore,  that  this  spirit  had  been 
in  Palestine  long  before  the  advent  of  the  first  of 
the  Hebrews,  that  from  time  immemorial  it  had 
had  one  of  its  chief  seats  among  these  hills. 

This  spirit,  however,  did  not  flee  civilization  and 
resort  to  anarchy  because  it  was  a  spirit  of  an- 
archy, but  because  it  was  hostile  to  insin-  construc- 
cerity.  The  existing  civilizations  were  *ion  begins. 
oppressive,  cruel,  corrupt,  unspeakably  abominable 
shams.  After  a  time  the  very  same  spirit  began 
to  construct,  and  the  Hebrew  tribes  are  found  de- 
manding a  king  ;  and,  through  their  allegiance  to 
the  prophet  who  stood  most  nearly  for  the  same 
ancient  Mosaic  spirit,  the  choice  fell  upon  one, 
Saul.  Personally  not  up  to  the  standard  of  that 
spirit,  moody,  gloomy,  superstitious,  ungenial,  yet, 
with  all  his  faults,  Saul  was  not  an  oriental  despot. 
He  was  distinctively  a  product  of  Hebrew  life,  and 

1  Gen.  xiv.  18-20 ;  Heb.  vii.  1-11. 

'^  A.  H.  Sayce,  in  S.  S.  Times,  Dec.  13,  1890,  and  elsewhere. 


44  DAVID. 

as  a  first  step  in  the  evolution  of  an  original  civil- 
ization he  was  a  success,  and  the  spirit  acted  un- 
erringly in  his  selection. 

In  his  successor,  David,  we  have   the   Hebrew 
spirit  embodied  in  another  hero  of  almost  the  di- 
mensions of  Moses.     Peccable  as  he  was 

David. 

personally,  the  spirit  of  David  was  so  far 
the  best  expression  of  that  of  Hebrew  nationality. 
He  came  at  a  crisis  when  a  new  hero  was  needed. 
Samuel  had  done  much,  both  to  bring  on  and  to 
prepare  for  meeting  this  crisis,  making  progress  in 
ethicalizing  and  nationalizmg  the  prophetic  school 
and  type  of  character.  But  Samuel's  day  had 
passed,  and  David,  the  warrior,  poet,  and  con- 
structive statesman,  took  uj)  the  new  task.  With  his 
long  reign  the  work  of  unifying  the  Hebrew  nation 
was  for  the  time  complete.  Although  the  exten- 
sion of  his  kingdom  served  high  ends,  and  was 
needed  to  give  wings  to  the  national  imagination, 
and  to  set  before  it  the  idea  of  world  conquest, 
afterwards  so  fruitful  in  undreamed-of  ways,  yet 
it  approached  the  danger  line.  As  a  political  unit 
the  Hebrew  power  came  into  direct  competition 
and  comparison  with  other  powers  on  the  sides 
where  it  was  certain  to  be  out-measured,  because 
its  strength,  unlike  theirs,  lay  in  its  sjDirit.  The 
temptation  to  introduce  their  methods  and  temper 
into  Hebrew  life  proved  too  strong  for  David's 
successor,  whose  reign  of  seeming  prosperity  was 
but  a  preparation  for  a  catastrophe. 


DISEUPTION  A  BLESSING.  45 

Yet  Solomon's  cosmopolitanism  was  not  wholly 
false.  In  some  respects  it  was  swayed  by  the 
Hebrew   spirit;  and   though    it  brought 

....  ,-,  ,      ,  Solomon. 

on  a  new  crisis,  it  was  on  the  whole  a 
genuine  and  necessary  contribution  to  the  life  of 
the  nation.  Had  Israel  not  risked  a  premature 
universalism  under  Solomon,  she  might  have  been 
unready  for  a  riper  expression  of  her  broad  spirit 
later.  But  toward  the  close  of  the  reign  of  the 
magnificent  monarch  the  tide  turned  the  other 
way.  The  kingdom  had  been  orientalized.  Re- 
ligion was  becoming  the  cloak  for  vice  and  oppres- 
sion, which  the  Hebrew  spirit  would  not  endure. 
Taxation  was  growing  unbearable,  and  resistance 
to  it  patriotism.  Because  Solomon's  successor 
could  not  be  made  to  understand  with  what  an 
invincible  spirit  he  had  to  deal,  he  went  on  blindly 
in  his  contemptuous  disregard  of  its  warnings, 
until  the  kingdom  was  rent  in  twain. 

Disruption  was  the  most  fortunate  thing  that 
could  happen  under  the  circumstances,  and  it 
alone  saved  the  nation.  It  is  not  diffi-  Disruption  a 
cult  to  discover  the  Hebrew  spirit  or  ^^^^^^"g- 
genius  in  it.  Henceforth  while  the  parts  remained 
politically  separate  they  were  spiritually  one,  and 
it  was  easier  for  them  to  be  spiritually  one  be- 
cause they  were  politically  two.  The  fact  led  to 
a  kind  of  distinction  between  the  temporal  and 
spiritual  power.  The  spiritual  organism  was  less 
liable  to  become  identical  with  and  to  lose  itself 


46  ELIJAH  THE  PBOPHET. 

in  the  political  organism.  The  political  duality 
forced  the  prophets  to  emerge  as  a  class  of  men 
outside  official  life,  and  with  a  personal  indepen- 
dence which  threw  the  best  of  them  out  of  sym- 
pathy sometimes  even  with  one  another.  While 
now  there  was  always  a  certain  substratum  of 
j)olitical  order  in  the  lower  affairs  of  life,  in  re- 
gard to  the  higher  and  more  refined  interests  the 
prophetic  spirit  brought  back  a  sort  of  anarchism 
much  like  that  of  the  age  of  the  judges.  When 
in  times  of  emergency  they  brought  their  moral 
influence  to  bear,  they  were  stronger  than  the 
kings  on  the  throne,  so  that  they  were  feared  and 
often  hated  by  the  representatives  of  the  material- 
istic order  for  which  the  throne  stood.  They 
cared  nothing  for  frontiers.  To  their  minds  there 
was  but  one  nation.  Wars  between  the  two  king- 
doms they  regarded  as  civil  conflicts.  Hence 
through  them  the  nation  remained  one  in  spirit ; 
and  when  the  fortunes  of  war  wiped  one  of  the 
kingdoms  out  of  existence,  the  other  was  the  heir 
to  that  wealth  of  historical  achievement  and  tradi- 
tion which  could  not  be  made  sj^oil  of,  and  the 
refuge  of  such  of  its  citizens  as  escaped  slavery 
and  remained  true  to  the  genius  of  Hebraism. 

Of  the  line  of  prophets  who  revived  the  ancient 
spirit  of  Mosaism,  and  held  the  nation  to  it  in  the 
Elijah  the  ^^^^  ^^  corruption  and  danger,  the  first 
prophet.        ^^^  Qj^g  ^£  ^YiQ  niost  conspicuous  is  the 

hero   Elijah.      Although    perhaps   somewhat   ob- 


AMOS  AND  HIS  LINE.  47 

scurecl  or  distorted  by  the  liaze  of  distance,  and 
with  an  outward  success  of  but  brief  duration, 
Elijah  is  undoubtedly  to  be  ranked  among  the 
great  history-makers.  His  intolerant  zeal  for  the 
sole  service  of  Jehovah,  against  the  foul  and  cruel 
worship  of  the  Tyrian  Baal,  is  easily  explained, 
not  by  narrowness,  but  by  depth  and  purity  of 
religious  and  moral  spirit.  Jealousy  is  a  just 
attitude  in  a  worshiper  of  an  ethical  God  like 
Jehovah,  against  a  Phoenician  deity.  The  key 
to  Elijah's  public  conduct  is  found  in  his  denun- 
ciation of  Ahab  in  the  matter  of  the  forcible  tak- 
ing of  Naboth's  vineyard,  a  crime,  too,  which  the 
history  faithfully  traces  to  the  demoralizing  influ- 
ence of  the  Baal  worship,  and  its  corresponding 
moral  tone. 

What  is  true  of  Elijah  is  equally  true  of  the 
line  of  prophets  beginning  with  Amos.  Their 
attacks  upon  the  established  order  all  Amos  and 
have  an  unselfish  motive  and  an  ethical  ^''^'"^• 
basis.  They  are  consumed  with  a  passion  for 
righteousness,  and  are  firmly  persuaded  that  the 
world  is  being  governed  by  a  power  that  makes 
for  righteousness,  a  God  who  is  as  much  in  ear- 
nest about  getting  the  right  done  as  they  are 
themselves,  and  who  is  nauseated  by  a  mere  rit- 
ual holiness.  ''  I  hate,  I  despise  your  feast  days, 
and  I  will  not  smell  in  your  solemn  assemblies. 
Though  ye  offer  me  burnt  offerings  and  your  meat 
offerings,  I  will  not  accept  them:  neither  will  I 


48  ETHICS   OF  THE  PBOPHETS. 

regard  the  peace  offerings  of  your  fat  beasts. 
Take  thou  away  from  me  the  noise  of  thy  songs  ; 
for  I  will  not  hear  the  melody  of  thy  viols.  But 
let  judgment  run  down  as  waters,  and  righteous- 
ness as  a  mighty  stream,"  is  the  language  put  by 
the  spirit  into  the  mouth  of  Amos.^  Even  in 
Hosea,  where  the  religious  rather  than  the  ethical 
is  said  to  predominate,  we  find  the  declaration  "  I 
desired  mercy  and  not  sacrifice  ;  and  the  know- 
ledge of  God  more  than  burnt  offerings."^  In 
thus  exalting  morality  above  ritual  the  prophets 
manifested  their  loyalty  to  the  spirit  of  Mosaism. 

A  further  manifestation  of  this  spirit  is  seen  in 
their  compassionate  temper.  They  are  every- 
Ethicsofthe  where  the  champions  of  the  oppressed, 
prophets.  ^j-^g  poor,  and  him  that  hath  no  helper. 
To  them  one  of  the  fundamental  divine  attributes 
is  "mercy,"  and  when  they  speak  of  "justice" 
they  mean  by  it  the  right  doing  towards  those 
who  are  inferior  in  power  to  assert  their  rights. 
When  they  dwelt  \ipon  the  divine  justice,  it  was 
not  to  gloat  over  the  punishment  of  the  guilty,  but 
to  rejoice  at  his  championship  of  the  injured.  "  To 
do  justly  and  to  love  mercy  and  to  walk  humbly  " 
was  the  sum  of  virtue,  beside  which  ritual  obser- 
vances counted  for  nothing.  ^  "  He  judged  the 
cause  of  the  poor  and  needy ;  .  •  .  was  not  this  to 
know  me  ?  "  saith  Jehovah.  *     They  are  moreovei 

1  Amos  V.  21.  24.  ^  Hosea  vi.  6. 

3  Mic.  vi.  6-8.  ^  Jer.  xxii.  16. 


THEIR  FAITH.  49 

exquisitely  sensitive  on  the  matter  of  sincerity. 
Religion  divorced  from  right  conduct  was  to  them 
one  of  the  meanest  forms  of  untruth  :  and  still 
more  abominable  was  vice  masquerading  under  the 
cloak  of  religion.  The  habit  of  borrowing  even 
true  religious  phrases,  instead  of  learning  their 
meaning  by  experience,  was  stigmatized  by  Jere- 
miah as  a  form  of  theft.  ^  Yet  this  healthy  and 
genial  spirit,  full  of  tenderness  for  all  who  suffer, 
and  hostile  to  all  vices  and  injustice,  has  in  it  no 
trace  of  asceticism.  They  say  no  word  against  the 
enjoyment  of  life  according  to  one's  opportunity. 
The  contrast  between  their  spirit  and  that  of  the 
Brahmans  and  Buddhists  of  India  in  respect  to  self- 
tortures  and  ascetic  renunciations  is  most  notice- 
able. 

With  their  moral  intensity  and  their  zeal  for 
the  betterment  of  the  conditions  of  life,  it  was  im- 
portant that  they  combine  a  strons:  faith 

7        ,,  .    1  ,  <r      ,     .       Their  faith. 

m  the  righteous  government  or  their 
God,  and  the  ultimate  triumph  of  his  rule.  That 
faith  was  often  sorely  tried.  Problems  which  ap- 
peared insoluble  were  crowded  upon  them.  Men 
less  well-grounded  in  a  religious  confidence  in  the 
divine  supremacy  of  righteousness  would  have 
been  driven  to  despair,  or  tempted  to  take  refuge 
in  the  darkening  of  the  mind  through  ritualism. 
Sometimes  the  cry  of  impatience  is  "  How  long, 
0  Jehovah,  how  long?"  but  the  spirit  of  faith 
^  Jer.  xxiii.  30. 


60  THEIB  FRANKNESS. 

triumphs,  and  one  of  tlie  characteristics  of  the 
prophets,  in  spite  of  these  occasional  outbreaks, 
is  the  air  of  patient  waiting  for  the  solutions  not 
vouchsafed.  The  j)ower  to  wait,  as  Moses  in  the 
Arabian  desert,  is  one  of  the  elements  of  strength 
in  the  men  who  have  left  permanent  marks  upon 
the  world's  history.  "  I  will  wait  upon  Jehovah, 
that  hideth  his  face  from  the  house  of  Jacob,"  says 
Isaiah.^  "  Blessed  are  all  they  that  wait  for  him."  ^ 
"  He  that  belie veth  shall  not  make  haste."  ^ 

These  men  are  very  frank,  and  sometimes  com- 
j)lain  to  God.  There  is  no  hypocritical  cringing 
Their  ^^  servility.    If  they  feel  like  it,  they  are 

frankness.  ^^^  afraid  to  cxpostulatc  with  Jehovah. 
"  Let  me  talk  with  Thee  of  thy  judgments :  where- 
fore doth  the  way  of  the  wicked  prosper  ?  where- 
fore are  all  they  happy  that  deal  very  treacher- 
ously ?  "  4  "  Wherefore  lookest  thou  upon  them  that 
deal  treacherously,  and  boldest  thy  tongue  when 
the  wicked  devoureth  the  man  that  is  more  right- 
eous than  he?"  ^  Such  outspokenness  must  have 
been  very  refreshing  to  a  God  wearied  with  the 
sycophancy  of  hypocrites.^  Habakkuk  cannot 
understand  why  a  power  like  that  of  the  Chaldeans 
is  permitted  to  crush  a  nation  like  Israel,  which, 

1  Isa.  viii.  17.  ^  Isa.  xxx.  18.  ^  Isa.  xxviii.  16. 

4  Jer.  xii.  1.  5  Hab.  i.  13. 

^  The  heathen  who  occasionally  punishes  his  idol  is  in  a  hope- 
ful state.  He  is  not  a  safe  subject  for  human  tyranny.  Until  a 
man  has  the  self-respect  to  hold  his  God  to  a  standard,  he  is  not 
fit  to  have  either  a  relisrion  or  a  social  life. 


riiOPHETIC  OPTIMISM.  61 

in  spite  of  lier  sins,  is  vastly  more  righteous  tlian 
her  oppressors  ;  while  Jeremiah  is  perplexed  by 
the  prosperity  of  evil  men  within  the  nation,  and 
the  sufferings  of  the  righteous,  himself  among 
them.  The  experience  of  Jeremiah,  the  hero  of 
unmerited  sorrow,  was  one  of  the  object-lessons 
which  brought  up  the  whole  problem  of  the  rela- 
tion between  righteousness  and  prosperity.  Out 
of  the  contemplation  of  his  life  came  some  of  the 
psalms,  it  may  be  the  book  of  Job,  where  the  He- 
brew spirit  grapples,  with  conspicuous  though  not 
final  success,  with  this  enigma.  ^ 

One  of  the  notable  triumphs  of  the  Hebrew 
spirit  is  seen  in  the  way  in  which  it  marshaled 
the  spiritual  and  moral  forces  of  the  ^^^ssy^ 
nation  to  confront  the  issue  of  the  Assy- 
rian invasion.  It  was  the  issue  of  physical  weak- 
ness against  invincible  strength;  and  the  rapid 
mobilization  of  the  spiritual  forces,  the  reconstruc- 
tion of  the  national  religious  and  moral  conceptions 
in  the  face  of  the  enemy,  and  the  shout  of  defiance 
that  went  up,  and  has  echoed  down  the  centuries, 
were  magnificent.^ 

The  undaunted  optimism  of  the  Hebrew  spirit 
was  one  of  the  chief  elements  of  its  power.  With- 
out this  it  could  not  have  held  on  its  prophetic 
course  against  the  current  of  facts.  For  optimism. 
its  passion  for  righteousness  had  to  be  maintained 
in  the  face  of  the  carnival  of  crime  and  licentious- 
1  Briggs,  Messianic  Prophecy.  ^  isa.  x.,  xi. 


invasion. 


52  GBOUND   OF  IT. 

ness  and  injustice  which  was  continually  going  on. 
It  was  a  light  shining  in  a  dark  place,  and  because 
of  its  hopefulness  the  darkness  could  not  swallow 
it  up.^  Optimism  and  the  moral  interest,  which 
are  usually  at  odds,  managed  in  this  case  to  stimu- 
late and  complement  each  other.  Against  every 
black  background  of  present  moral  evil  painted  by 
one,  the  other  throws  a  bright  picture  of  the  future. 
"  Ah,  sinful  nation !  a  people  laden  with  in- 
iquity !  "  ^  says  the  moralist ;  and  the  optimist  re- 
sponds, "  Thy  people  also  shall  be  all  righteous."  ^ 
Where  that  seemed  incredible  at  least  "  a  rem- 
nant "  should  be  found.  When  exile  and  bondage 
came,  as,  in  the  eye  of  the  prophet,  the  manifest 
punishment  for  sin,  and  optimism  predicted  a  re- 
storation, the  moral  judgment  responded  again 
with  the  conviction  that  the  old  weary  round  of 
transgression  would  follow,  and  again  in  turn  op- 
timism followed  with  its  happy  thought  of  a  new 
covenant,  a  law  written  not  on  stone  tablets  but  on 
the  heart.^  And  so  morality  and  optimism,  chant- 
ing their  antiphonal,  rose  towards  the  climax  of 
messianic  anticipation. 

This  optimistic  tone  could  not  have  persisted  if 
like  most  optimism  it  had  depended  upon  tempera- 
Ground  of  nient.  The  ethical  temperament  is  not 
^*"  spontaneously  hopeful.     It  is  despondent 

and  querulous.     But   the    si3irit  which  ruled  the 

1  John  i.  5,  R.  V.  2  isa.  i.  4. 

8  Isa.  Ix.  21.  *  Jer.  xxiv.  7. 


UTOPIAS.  53 

prophets  was  not  subjective  or  temperamental.  It 
was  a  religious  and  historical  spirit,  which  had  ex- 
isted before  them,  had  come  to  them  from  without, 
and  had  produced  and  cherished  such  a  conception 
of  God  as  to  give  the  basis  for  a  sound  optimism. 
Jehovah  had,  as  the  Hebrew  thought,  chosen 
Israel ;  and  he  was  a  God  of  grace  and  mercy, 
long-suffering  and  forgiving,  who  was  not  content 
to  set  before  men  an  impossible  moral  standard  in 
order  to  entrap  them  when  they  failed  to  realize 
it,  but  who  was  interested  in  helping  them  to  real- 
ize it.  "  Who  is  a  God  like  unto  thee,  that  par- 
doneth  iniquity,  and  passeth  by  the  transgression 
of  the  remnant  of  his  heritage  ?  lie  retaineth  not 
his  anger  forever,  because  he  delighteth  in  mercy. 
He  will  turn  again,  he  will  have  compassion 
upon  us ;  he  will  .  .  .  cast  all  their  sins  into  the 
depths  of  the  sea."  ^  "I  will  heal  their  backslid- 
ing, I  will  love  them  freely."  ^ 

This  optimism,  based  upon  the  idea  of  a  merci- 
ful and  forgiving  God,  stimulates  the  prophets  to 
the  creation  of  utopias.  These  Utopias, 
differing  greatly  among  themselves,  some 
political,  some  ethical,  and  others  religious,  all  bear 
the  common  stamp  of  the  Hebrew  spirit.  That  of 
Amos  is  pure  patriotism,  proclaimed  in  the  face  of 
threatened  national  extinction.^  Isaiah  describes 
an  ideal  king  and  a  political  millennium.^    Maturer 

1  Mic.  vii.  18,  19.  2  Hos.  xiv.  4. 

^  Amos  ix.  11-15.  ^  Isa.  xi.  1-5. 


54  UTOPIAS. 

thought  leads  later  prophets  to  realize  that  a  politi- 
cal Utopia  without  a  regenerated  people  cannot  be 
the  Summum  Bonum^  and  Jeremiah  thinks  out 
his  ideal  of  a  new  covenant  with  the  law  written 
upon  the  heart.  He  still  retains  his  loyalty  to  the 
nation  and  to  the  notion  of  a  king,^  whose  name 
is  to  be  "Jehovah  our  Righteousness."  Ezekiel 
is  much  influenced  by  Jeremiah,  but  because  of 
his  situation  leans  more  towards  the  notion  of  a 
ritual.  It  is,  however,  a  ritual  which  is  to  be  a 
means  to  the  regeneration  which  Jeremiah  desired.  ^ 
With  the  prophet  of  the  exile  comes  a  religious 
Utopia.  The  king  and  the  nation  are  both  lost 
sight  of  in  a  conception  of  Israel  as  a  prophet  or 
servant  of  Jehovah,  bringing  salvation  even  to  the 
heathen.  "  I  wiU  also  give  thee  for  a  light  to  the 
Gentiles,  that  thou  mayest  be  my  salvation  unto 
the  end  of  the  earth."  ^  And  this  profound  observer 
did  not  fail  to  discover  from  his  point  of  vantage 
that  with  this  high  calling  must  come  also  tribu- 
lation. "  He  is  despised  and  rejected  of  men ;  a 
man  of  sorrows,  and  acquainted  with  grief."  * 
This  prophet  reaches  the  highest  summit  of  He- 
brew optimism,  and  there,  confronting  the  spirit  of 
pessimism,  triumphantly  looks  it  out  of  counte- 
nance. 

While  the  experience  of  history  leads  to  higher 
and  more  refined  and  profound  conceptions,  the 

1  Jer.  xxiii.  5,  6.  ^  gzek.  xlviii.  35. 

3  Isa.  xlix.  6.  *  Isa.  liii.  3. 


THE  SPIBIT  COMMON   TO   THEM.  55 

spirit  is  the  same  in  all  the  Hebrew  Utopias.  It 
was  able  to  maintain,  against  the  appar- 
ent verdict  of  history,  the  ancient  faith  comX? to 
in  a  divine  election  for  Israel.  For  the 
belief  in  Jehovah  as  the  national  God,  it  was  able 
to  substitute,  in  obedience  to  the  spirit,  if  not 
the  explicit  teaching  of  Moses  and  the  choicer 
minds  of  earlier  times,  the  idea  that  Jehovah  was 
the  universal  God,  who  had  chosen  Israel,  —  a 
distinctively  nobler  conception.^  Then  when  that 
doctrine  had  been  degraded  in  the  vulgar  mind 
into  a  belief  that  Israel  was  to  the  supreme  God 
as  a  favorite  to  an  oriental  king,^  the  spirit  hinted 
that  he  would  punish  Israel  for  her  sins  even 
more  severely  than  other  nations,  because  he 
loved  her  and  would  not  permit  her  to  corrupt  her- 
self. Again,  as  other  disillusionments  came  with 
the  hard  fortunes  of  history,  the  idea  of  election 
was  further  purified,  until  the  voice  out  of  the 
exile  proclaimed  that  it  meant  election  to  the 
mission  of  vicarious  suffering,  as  an  innocent  vic- 
tim ;  and  the  appeal  in  behalf  of  righteousness 
was  based  upon  the  importance  of  the  victim's 
purifying  itself  for  the  altar.  The  eternally 
chosen  people  was  a  lamb  slain  from  the  founda- 
tion of  the  world. 

One  of  the  things  which  could  not  escape  the 
attention  of  men  who  were  under  the  influence  of 

1  Piepenbring,  Theology  of  Old  Testament,  pp.  29-34,  91. 

2  Ibid.,  pp.  320  f. 


56  STRESS    UPON  INDIVIDU^iLISM. 

the  Hebrew  spirit,  and  who  interpreted  history  in 
its  light,  was  the  significance  which 
indivfduar  might  attach  to  a  single  individual.  The 
normal  spirit  of  the  race  ^  had  given  to 
Israel  a  normal  national  history  in  many  respects, 
and  in  none  more  than  in  the  part  which  had  been 
played  by  heroes.  The  prophets  knew  how  a 
great  man,  a  hero,  might  "be  as  an  hiding  place 
from  the  wind,  and  a  covert  from  the  tempest ;  as 
rivers  of  water  in  a  dry  place,  as  the  shadow  of  a 
great  rock  in  a  weary  land."  ^  And  so  the  He- 
brew optimism  was  on  the  outlook  for  a  "  Man," 
a  "  Messiah,"  another  prophet  "  like  unto  Moses," 
a  "  son  of  David."  In  expecting  a  man  upon 
whom  should  turn  the  greater  destinies  of  the 
nation,  it  was  obeying  a  general  law  of  history. 
The  uniqueness  consists  partly  in  the  fact  that  the 
Hebrew  spirit  caused  that  general  law  to  be  more 
distinctly  perceived,  and  partly  in  its  having  called 
into  existence  a  series  of  great  men,  genetically 
related  to  one  another  in  their  specific  public  mis- 
sions, such  as  no  other  race  or  nation  ever  pro- 
duced. 

Great  men  themselves  may  be  regarded  as  acci- 
dental.    But   the    number  of    such  men  who  are 

1  Kenan,  History  of  People  of  Israel,  pp.  52,  53.  "  The  Semitic 
peoples,  who  are  most  richly  endowed  with  the  spirit  of  the  race." 
"  The  greater  prophets,  who  were  the  purest  reiiresentatives  of 
the  spirit  of  the  race." 

2  Isa.  xxxii.  2.     See  Cheyne  in  loco. 


HEROES.  57 

born  and  die  without  a  chance  to  realize  their  pos- 
sibilities, "mute  inglorious  Miltons,"  is 
beyond  computation.  When  great  men 
and  great  opportunities  are  both  of  sporadic  oc- 
currence, the  coincidence  of  the  man  and  the 
opportunity  is  necessarily,  according  to  the  law 
of  probabilities,  rare.  There  being  no  particular 
kinship  between  the  two,  nor  any  continuity  be- 
tween the  series  of  opportunities,  progress  is  at 
hap-hazard.  The  great  men  who  appeared  in 
other  parts  of  the  world  have  been  largely  of  this 
lonely  and  sporadic  kind.  There  was  no  prece- 
dent in  favor  of  them,  no  general  opportunity  for 
them,  no  standing  chance  awaiting  them,  no  social 
force  ready  to  be  enlisted  by  them,  no  set  of  tradi- 
tions large  enough  for  them  to  fit  into  and  to  pass 
on  with  cumulative  energy.  Socrates  and  Buddha 
and  Zoroaster  had  to  cut  away  too  absolutely 
from  the  traditions.  It  was  different  in  Israel. 
The  Hebrew  spirit  had  created  a  movement  large 
enough  so  that,  however  great  a  man  might  be, 
and  how^ever  he  might  quarrel  with  his  contempo- 
raries, he  was  never  quite  alone.  He  always  be- 
longed to  "  the  goodly  fellowship  of  the  prophets." 
While,  therefore,  it  is  true  that  all  historical 
movements  count  upon  the  services  of  great  men, 
it  is  preeminently  true  of  the  Hebrew  movement. 
And  though  it  be  admitted  that  the  greatest  of 
these  men  were  seldom  discovered  until  they  had 
been  stoned  to  death,  the  fact  still  remains  that 


58         DOUBLE  MESSIANIC  ANTICIPATION. 

theirs   was   the  ruling  spirit  of   the  ages  of  this 
history. 

It   was   therefore   inevitable   that   the  Hebrew 
spirit  should  make  that  history  prolific  in  great 
men ;  so  that  in  the  long  run  the  excep- 
Sam^cLTS-  tional  man  ceases  to  be  exceptional.     It 
P**^*""-  was  equally  certain  that  in  forming  its 

Utopian  ideals  it  should  dwell  with  special  empha- 
sis upon  the  hope  of  a  man  who  should  do  for  the 
spirit  in  its  culminating  work  what  had  again  and 
again  been  done  for  it  in  its  preliminary  stages,  — 
gather  all  of  its  potency  up  into  his  personality, 
and  project  it  into  the  future  with  his  personal 
energy.  Just  as  surely,  since  the  spirit  was  a 
social  spirit,  would  it  create  the  ideal  of  a  perfect 
society,  and  then  oscillate  between  the  man  and 
the  society  without  quite  striking  the  balance. 
Thus  the  creation  of  the  messianic  expectation, 
the  "  Hope  of  Israel,"  with  its  not  quite  harmo- 
nized elements  of  anticipation  concerning  an  indi- 
vidual Messiah  and  a  social  utopia,  was  the  fruit 
of  this  spirit. 

It  was  the  spirit  of  the  nation  which  preserved 
it  through  the  Babylonian  captivity,  and  kept  it 
Rise  of  so  true  to  its  ideals  that  its  conqueror 

Judaism.  found  it  was  more  profitable  to  permit 
the  reestablishment  of  the  Jewish  state  than  to 
continue  to  hold  such  an  ardent  and  invincibly 
patriotic  people  in  bondage.  The  change  from 
Hebraism   into  Judaism   is  a  point  where  many 


THE  HEBREW  SPIRIT  PRODUCED  IT.       59 

students  are  puzzled.  It  seems  like  a  lapse,  a 
backward  movement.  Hebraism  created  the  mes- 
sianic ideal,  a  messianic  nation,  and  the  noblest 
part  of  a  messianic  literature.  Judaism  created 
a  ritual  system  and  a  narrow  sect,  and  scribism 
with  its  zeal  for  the  exact  number  of  words  and 
letters  in  its  sacred  text.  Is  not  this  a  fall  ?  Per- 
haps. There  is  nothing  in  the  nature  of  the 
Hebrew  spirit  which  requires  it  to  be  adjudged 
a  failure,  though  it  should  not  always  march 
straight  onward  without  reaction.  Though  it  dis- 
appeared from  the  history,  was  lost  out  of  the 
religion  and  the  daily  life  of  Judaism,  and  became 
latent  for  centuries  like  a  dried  seed  in  the  litera- 
ture, that  would  not  invalidate  the  claim  of  Peter 
that  the  spiritual  phenomenon  occurring  at  Pente- 
cost was  that  which  had  been  predicted  by  Joel, 
and  a  further  claim  that  there  had  been  no  real 
break  in  the  line  of  causation  between  the  opera- 
tion of  the  spirit  which  created  the  few  older  pro- 
phets and  their  writings,  and  that  which  now  gave 
fair  promise  of  making  prophets  of  all.  A  spirit 
which  is  able  to  create  a  dynamical  literature  ^  has 
already  become  largely  independent  of  other  ex- 
ternal historical  modes  of  embodiment. 

As  a  fact,  however,  the  change  from  Hebraism 
to  Judaism  was  prompted  by  the  spirit  ^^^  ^ 

of  Hebraism  itself.     Hebraism  was  radi-  sp"ifc  pro- 
duced it. 

cal  and  progressive ;  Judaism  was  con- 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  15,  to.  lepa  ypd/xixaTa  .  .   .  to,  5uvdfjL€vd. 


60       THE  HEBREW  SPIRIT  PRODUCED  IT. 

servative  and  cautious.  The  time  had  come  for 
the  Hebrew  spirit  to  play  that  part,  that  it  might 
store  its  energies  for  a  new  forward  movement. 
Hebraism  as  it  had  been  could  not  belong  to  the 
many.  It  could  serve  the  many,  but  could  be  under- 
stood and  shared  only  by  those  especially  endowed. 
Judaism  was  a  scheme  to  mediate  it  to  the  people. 
Thus  we  are  not  surprised  to  discover  that  it  is 
the  distinctively  Hebrew  spirit  and  interest  that 
creates  Judaism.  The  priests  who  contrived  the 
ritual,  or  who  gave  new  authority  and  more  defi- 
nite form  to  the  traditional  system,  were  prophet- 
priests,^  and  wrought  from  prophetic  motives  and 
with  prophetic  foresight.  It  has  been  said  by 
some  that,  while  the  substance  of  the  Levitical  or- 
dinances existed  since  Moses  or  longer,  they  were 
only  tolerated ;  they  were  not  God's  word.  That  is 
to  say,  that  they  were  not  the  organ  of  the  specifi- 
cally Hebrew  spirit.  It  had  permitted  and  regu- 
lated them,  but  had  not  used  them  for  its  special 
ends.  This  is  not  improbable.  Nor  is  it  improb- 
able that,  at  the  time  of  the  exile,  the  spirit,  seek- 
ing means  whereby  to  maintain  the  ancient  Mosaic 
Hebraism  against  fearful  odds,^  made  these   old 

1  Bruce,  Apologetics,  pp.  264  f. 

^  "No  power  was  so  purely  Israelitish  as  tliis  (the  spirit), 
and  in  the  midst  of  the  exile  and  of  foreign  surroundings  it  could 
on  this  account  occur  to  the  prophet  as  such  a  special  power, 
high  and  long  holy  to  Israel,  far  earlier  than  to  the  prophets  who 
lived  in  great  numbers  in  the  old  Fatherland  itself."  Ewald, 
Revelation,  p.  277. 


PBIEST-PROPHET  AND  SCRIBE-PROPHET.    61 

channels  of  ritual  observance  its  own,  and  poured 
itself  through  them  into  the  future. 

The  time  had  come  for  the  Hebrew  spirit  to 
form  or  find  for  itself  a  husk  to  protect  it  while  it 
ripened  toward  a  more  perfect  consum-  p^jggt. 
mation.  It  partly  found  and  partly  made  ^Sfte-*  ^°*^ 
the  Levitical  ritual.  Parts  of  it  were  ^^'>p^^^- 
perhaps  older  than  Moses.  Parts  had  been  nega- 
tively adapted  to  the  Mosaic  spirit  by  the  lawgiver 
himself,  curbing  its  excesses  and  pruning  away  its 
excrescences.  Through  the  ages  since  it  had  suf- 
fered vicissitudes,  now  being  demoralized  by  priest- 
craft, and  now  revised  by  reforming  zeal.  At  last 
it  is  enriched  and  revised  by  a  group  of  priest- 
prophets  to  serve  a  most  important  end.  While 
suspiciously  like  the  surrounding  heathenism  in 
the  stress  it  lays  upon  the  ritual,  it  is  essentially 
different  in  its  secret  and  its  motive.  Its  secret 
kernel  is  a  living  seed  of  spiritual  potency  of  un- 
known potentiality.  In  its  motive  it  does  not 
mean  to  identify  ritual  and  morality.  It  merely 
lays  emphasis  uj^on  ritual  for  the  time  being,  as  an 
instrument  to  hold  Israel  loyal  to  ancient  Hebra- 
ism and  to  the  hope  for  the  future.  "The  pro- 
moters of  this  reforming  movement,"  says  Bruce,^ 
''  might  very  well  have  the  feeling  that  they  were 
true  to  the  spirit  of  Moses,  and  doing  their  best  to 
preserve  intact  the  Mosaic  religion."  What  they 
did  may  not  have  been  the  ideal  thing.  Yet  what 
1  Apologetics,  p.  26G. 


62    PBIEST-PROPHET  AND  SCRIBE-PROPHET. 

would  have  been  ideal  in  the  circumstances  ?  They 
were  practical  statesmen,  and  one  of  the  elements 
of  their  ideal  thing  must  be  that  it  be  workable. 
Can  anything  better  be  conceived  in  the  circum- 
stances than  to  reconstruct  the  history  and  the  re- 
ligious forms  of  Israel,  and  to  cause  them  to  min- 
ister to  the  education  of  the  people  in  the  living 
traditions  of  their  race  ?  Ezra  may  have  been  a 
mere  scribe ;  but  not  the  less  he  was  an  epoch- 
maker  like  Moses,^  and  through  him  and  methods 
which  he  began  to  devise  and  execute  Mosaism 
was  resuscitated  and  preserved  and  transmitted. 
We  may  complain  of  the  slavish  loyalty  of  these 
scribes  to  the  letter  of  the  sacred  writings ;  and 
then  in  the  same  breath  inconsistently  declare  that 
they  produced  the  writings  themselves.  In  either 
case  they  are  deserving  of  honor.  For  they  either 
created,  or  selected  and  canonized  the  most  remark- 
able set  of  writings  the  world  had  seen.  No  body 
of  men  could  have  performed  either  of  these  ser- 
vices to  ancient  Hebraism  who  had  not  become 
deeply  imbued  with  the  spirit  of  that  Hebraism. 

1  Ibid.,  p.  268.  Driver,  Introduction  to  O.  T.  Lit.,  p.  xxviii. 
"  There  exists  no  ground  whatever  for  questioning  the  testimony 
of  the  compiler  of  the  Book  of  Ezra,  which  brings  Ezra  into  con- 
nection with  the  Law.  .  .  .  Ezra,  the  priest  and  scribe,  was  in  some 
way  noted  for  his  services  in  connection  with  the  Law.  .  .  .  What 
these  services  were  we  do  not  certainly  know,  .  .  .  but  the  term 
'  scribe  '  and  the  form  of  the  representation  in  Ezra  iv.  would  sug- 
gest that  they  were  of  a  literary  character."  The  epochal  char- 
acter of  Ezra,  like  that  of  Moses,  does  not  depend  upon  his  hav- 
ing done  all  that  tradition  attributes  to  him,  but  upon  his  having 
made  an  important  initiative. 


JUDAISM  AND  SIN.  63 

Those  sacred  writings  which  are  with  most  con- 
fidence attributed  to  the  Judaic  period  are  the 
greater  number  of  the  songs  of  the  Psal-  witness  of 
ter.  At  any  rate  the  Psalter  is  regarded  t^^^^^it^^- 
as  of  post-exilic  compilation.  In  it,  therefore, 
should  be  seen  the  true  spirit  of  these  scribes  and 
priests.  Though  the  psalms  advance  no  novel 
ideas  as  compared  with  the  earlier  prophets,  they 
rise  to  a  high  level  of  spiritualism.  Praising  the 
temple  and  its  ritual,  they  by  no  means  indicate  a 
slavish  dependence  upon  it.  They  find  in  the  law 
the  soundest  moral  principles,  and,  with  some  ex- 
ceptions, are  noted  for  their  humanness.  They 
strike  out  of  the  heart  of  Judaism,  so  often  blamed 
for  its  narrowness,  the  note  of  cosmopolitanism. 
The  compilers  of  the  Psalter  can  have  been  no 
mean  sort  of  men.^ 

One  of  th«  complaints  against  Judaism  is  be- 
cause of  the  emphasis  which  it  lays  upon  the  idea 
of  sin.  It  is  charged  with  having  de-  Judaism  and 
parted  in  this  respect  from  the  old  Hebra-  ^™* 
ism.  This  accusation  cannot  be  made  by  those 
who  have  measured  the  real  depth  of  the  spirit  of 
Hebraism.  It  is  like  the  shallow  criticism  of  those 
who  think  that  the  dancing  of  the  Merrymounters 
gave  better  promise  for  the  future  of  New  Eng- 
land than  the  psalm-singing  of  the  intolerant  Puri- 
tans.2  It  was  because  the  spirit  of  Hebraism  was 
profound  enough  to  work  out  in  time  a  serious 
1  Bruce,  Apologetics,  pp.  272  f.  ^  md,^  p.  208. 


64  JUDAISM  AND  SIN. 

sense  of  sinfulness  tliat  it  was  so  specifically  dif- 
ferent from  the  spirits  of  other  semi-civilizations. 
These  could  go  on  in  the  enjoyment  of  animal 
spirits,  and  without  remorse  permit  corruption  to 
grow  until  ruin  was  inevitable.  Renan,  though 
himself  of  the  lightest  Hellenic  temperament,  and 
wanting  in  enough  depth  or  seriousness  to  compre- 
hend the  Hebrew,  was  able  to  see  something  of  it, 
when  he  said,  "  Greece  had  only  one  thing  want- 
ing in  the  circle  of  her  moral  and  intellectual  ac- 
tivity; but  this  was  an  important  void;  she  de- 
spised the  humble  and  did  not  feel  the  need  of  a 
just  God.  Her  philosophers,  while  dreaming  of 
the  immortality  of  the  soul,  were  tolerant  toward 
the  iniquities  of  this  world.  Her  religions  were 
merely  elegant  municipal  playthings."  ^  It  was  a 
real  step  in  advance,  and  one  produced  by  the  ori- 
ginal spirit  of  Hebraism,  when  the  system  of  wor- 
ship was  so  adjusted  as  to  emphasize  and  call  out 
this  sense  of  unworthiness.  Many  of  the  ceremo- 
nial specifications,  those  pertaining  to  uncleanness, 
for  instance,  seem  trivial  in  detail.  But  they  had 
their  definite  jDurpose  in  a  studied  antagonism  to 
the  impurities  and  licentiousness  of  the  nearest 
paganisms.  They  were  to  be  denounced,  as  Jesus 
denounced  them,  only  when  the  spirit  which  had 
originally  prompted  them  had  entirely  gone  out  of 
their  observance. 

One  of  the  great  achievements  of  scribism,  and 

^  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  i.,  p.  vii. 


THE  SYNAGOGUE.  %b 

one  which  is  to  be  directly  attributed  to  the  demo- 
cratic Hebrew  spirit,  was  the  founding  xhesyna- 
of  the  synagogues  as  centres  of  lay  wor-  ^°^^^' 
ship  and  education.^  When  the  people  were  called 
together  by  Ezra  to  hear  the  reading  and  expound- 
ing of  the  sacred  books,^  he  was  obeying  the  same 
impulse  as  Moses  when  he  gave  to  a  horde  of  ser- 
vile brickmakers  the  esoterics  of  learned  Egyjit. 
It  was  a  recognition  of  popular  claims  for  par- 
ticipation in  religious  knowledge  and  worship, 
which  could  not  be  answered  by  a  single  sanctuary 
with  an  exclusive  priesthood.  Hence  the  educa- 
tional side  of  Judaism  began  to  develop  itself.  The 
Jew  soon  found  in  the  synagogue  all  that  was 
wanting  in  the  temple,  and  it  spread  everywhere. 
It  was  because  of  the  peculiar  adaptability  and 
superiority  of  its  spirit  that  Judaism  could  go  into 
all  the  earth  without  losing  hold  of  its  traditions. 
There  was  simply  nothing  in  the  paganisms  it  met 
which  could  compete  with  it.  In  a  subtle  way  the 
Dispersion  itself  was  instigated  by  the  spirit ;  and 
everywhere  it  carried  with  it  that  most  democratic 
of  institutions.     Wherever  a  dozen  Jews  could  be 

1  "  One  further  germ  of  spiritual  life  may,  probably,  be  traced 
to  the  epoch  of  Ezra.  If,  in  the  long  unmarked  period  which 
follows,  the  worship  of  the  Synagogue  silently  sprang  up,  ...  it 
must  have  originated  in  the  independent,  personal,  universal 
study  of  the  Law,  irrespective  of  Temple  or  Priest,  which  Ezra 
had  inaugurated."  Stanley,  History  of  the  Jewish  Church,  vol. 
iii.,  p.  134. 

2  Neh.  viii.  1-8. 


66  DEMAND  FOB   THE  SCBIPTURES. 

found,  they  formed  a  group  and  met  for  prayer 
and  discussion  of  the  sacred  writings.  While  the 
temple  remained  the  ideal  centre,  and  loyalty  to  it 
the  coordinating  principle  of  the  national  life,  the 
actual  unit  of  the  Jewish  commonwealth  was  the 
synagogue.  It  fulfilled  the  functions  of  a  church, 
a  public  school,  and  a  tawn  meeting  all  in  one. 

A  great  part  of  the  work  of  the  scribes  consisted 
in  multiplying  copies  of  the  Scriptures  for  the  use 
of  the  synagogues.      Hence  the  signifi- 
thTscrip-*'^    cance  of  scribism  is  not  to  be  found  alto- 
^^^'  gether  in  the  character  of  the  men,  but 

also  in  the  nature  and  extent  of  the  popular  de- 
mand for  their  work.  To  seek  material  for  the 
history  of  Judaism  by  studying  the  scribes,  is  much 
as  if  one  were  to  write  the  history  of  to-day  on  a 
basis  of  a  study  of  type-setting  machines  and  cylin- 
drical presses,  rather  than  upon  the  nature  of  the 
writings  they  reproduce  and  the  extent  of  the  public 
demand  for  those  writings.  A  Bible  society  may 
be  managed  by  men  of  narrow  or  unworthy  views. 
What  we  care  for  is  the  number  of  Bibles  the  public 
calls  for.  When  we  are  told  that  the  scribes  ap- 
plied petty  rules  and  methods,  and  measured  their 
Scripture  by  the  number  of  ems,  we  need  not  be  of- 
fended. We  can  praise  them  as  excellent  copyists. 
What  interests  us  is  that  the  Jewish  people  fur- 
nished employment  for  so  many  copyists  of  such 
valuable  matter.  The  result  was  that  probably 
less  than  one  Jew  in  a  thousand  was  unfamiliar 


DEMAND  FOR   THE  SCRIPTURES.  67 

with  tlie  best  parts  of  the  literature  into  which 
the  ancient  Hebrew,  Mosaic,  prophetic  spirit  had 
poured  itself  in  overflowing  measure.^  The  im- 
portance of  this  fact  is  beyond  estimate.  In  the 
neighborhood  of  the  schools,  where  the  greater 
scribes  were  able  to  be  not  only  copyists  but  ex- 
pounders, the  Scripture  was  smothered  under  an 
abei^  glaube.  But  this  could  not  be  universal. 
Only  a  giant  can  effectually  choke  off  the  spiritual 
energy  of  this  mighty  literature.  Away  from  the 
capital  it  had  measurably  free  play.  There  must 
have  been  myriads  to  whom  it  was  vital.  Given 
these  generations  of  a  free  people,  —  for  the  He- 
brew sj)irit  always  refused  slavery  and  held  to 
some  of  the  chief  elements  of  liberty ;  let  that 
people  be  educated  into  familiarity  with  the  most 
remarkable  and  spiritually  intense  literature  the 
world  has  known,  and  then  call  it  an  age  of  steril- 
ity and  failure,  because  forsooth  the  official  classes 
have  failed,  as  they  universally  do,  to  keep  pace 
with  the  people !  He  who  so  judges  is  lacking  in 
the  historic  sense. 

It  is  true  that  the  external  history  of  the  period, 

1  "  Thus  the  synagogue  was  a  true  school  for  the  nation,  and 
Josephus  hoasts  with  justice  that  by  its  means  the  law  was  made 
the  common  possession  of  all ;  and  that  while  among  tlie  Romans 
even  procurators  and  proconsuls  had  to  take  those  skilled  in  law 
with  them  into  their  provinces,  in  the  Jewish  household  every 
servant-maid  knew  from  the  religious  service  what  Moses  had 
ordained  in  the  law  in  every  instance."  Hausrath,  New  Testa- 
ment Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  89. 


68  THE  SPIRIT  AND  LEGALISM. 

from  Malacbi  to  tlie  Baptist,  is  at  first  appearance 
The  spirit       disappoiutino:.     It  has  been  called  "tbe 

and  legal-  •    i  /.    i  t  -t. 

ism.  niglit  of  legalism.       But  vital   spiritual 

forces  also  work  in  the  night  under  cover  of  dark- 
ness, as  well  sometimes  as  in  the  day.  Yet  the 
external  history  is  not  wholly  without  the  spir- 
it's presence.  Developments  of  and  additions  to 
Hebrew  doctrines,  —  by  borrowing  for  instance 
from  the  Persians,  —  must  be  admitted.  The  He- 
brew spirit  was  never  above  taking  spoils  from  its 
enemies  or  its  allies,  if  they  had  anything  worth 
taking.  The  idea  of  a  world  empire  may  have 
originated  with  David,  but  was  more  probably 
borrowed  from  the  Assyrians,  and  then  regenerated 
and  spiritualized.  The  ideas  of  Satan,  of  angels 
and  demons,  and  of  a  future  life,  may  have  come 
from  Persia.  If  so  they  were  much  improved  u23on. 
The  Jewish  Satan,  great  but  not  equal  to  Jehovah, 
is  a  nobler  and  truer  mode  of  conception  of  the 
power  of  evil  than  the  Persian  Ahriman,  the  co- 
eternal  and  coequal  antagonist  of  Ormuzd.  If  the 
Hebrew  spirit  borrowed,  it  transmuted  also. 

As  to  the  idea  of  a  future  life,  that  was  never 
unknown  to,  but  was  only  ignored  by  the  Hebrew 
Doctrine  of  mi^d.  The  ignoring  of  it,  however,  served 
future  ijfe.  ^^^y  a  temporary  purpose.  If  the  belief 
in  immortality  be  legitimate  it  must  some  day  be 
reckoned  with.  By  the  time  it  had  reached  the 
Judaic  period  the  Hebrew  experience  had  been 
sufficiently  prolonged,  so  that  the  true  spirit  of  it, 


HEBBEW  AND  HELLENIC  SPIBITS.         69 

which  had  bidden  it  stand  aloof  at  first  from  doc- 
trines of  the  unseen,  now  withdrew  that  prohibi- 
tion. The  time  comes  when  the  moral  advantage 
is  no  longer  with  those  who  live  regardless  of  the 
thought  of  immortality.  The  party  in  later  Juda- 
ism which  denied  angels  and  spirits  and  the  future 
life  was  morally  the  inferior  party.  Those  who 
affirmed,  though  they  borrowed  perhaps  the  forms 
of  their  affirmation  from  the  Greeks,^  were  mor- 
ally the  better  exponents  of  the  spirit  of  the  same 
ancient  Hebraism  which  had  ignored  immortality. 
A  noteworthy  illustration  of  the  ability  of  the 
Hebrew  spirit  to  hold  its  own  in  the  face  of  other 
strong  spiritual  potencies  is  seen  in  its  ^he  Hebrew 
conflict,  on  the  whole  triumphant,  with  HeUenfc 
"Hellenism,  the  spirit  of  the  Greek  '^'''''' 
race."  ^  The  Greek  material  civilization,  like  the 
Persian  and  the  Babylonian  before  it,  could  con- 
quer the  Hebrew.  But  when  Alexander,  having 
completed  his  conquests,  halted  and  "  revolved  in 
his  mind  the  great  work  of  breathing  into  this 
huge  but  inert  body  the  living  spirit  of  Greek 
civilization,"  tradition  says  that  he  recognized  in 
Rome  arid  in  Judea  spiritual  peers  of  Greece.  At 
any  rate  the  Macedonian  power  did  not  overcome 
the  Palestinian  in  the  spiritual  realm.  In  Alex- 
andria indeed  the  contest  was  doubtful,  and  may 
perhaps  be  called   a   drawn   battle.     But   in   the 

1  Stanley,  History  of  the  Jeivish  Church,  vol.  iii.,  p.  294. 

2  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  207. 


70  SECTARIANISM. 

ancient  seat  the  Hebrew  was  victorious.  Wliat  of 
importance  came  to  Judaism  from  Greece  came  as 
spoils.  Even  the  language  was  captured  for  spirit- 
ual purposes.  While  the  Septuagint  translation, 
made  in  Alexandria,  smoothed  down  some  of  the 
ancient  anthropomorphisms,  it  did  not  succeed  in 
making  over  the  Hebrew  Jehovah  into  the  Greek 
Zeus.  That  translation  made  the  Greek  tongue 
the  most  effective  agent  for  the  extension  of  the 
Hebrew  religion  and  morals  and  the  universalizing 
of  its  spirit.  Many  Hebrews  hellenized;  more 
Greeks  hebraized.  Yet  the  rich  treasures  of  Greek 
thought  were  not  unappreciated  by  the  Hebrew 
mind.  They  were  worthy  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
spirit,  and  in  the  genial  recognition  of  their  value 
that  spirit  became  more  fully  aware  of  its  own  es- 
sential universalism. 

The  sectarianisms  which  arose  and  the  fiercest 
wars  which  were  fought  during  this  period  sprang 
Sectarian-  from  the  determination  of  the  Hebrew 
ism.  spirit  not  to  yield  to  the  foreign  influence. 

The  current  fad  of  unity,  regardless  of  all  other 
interests,  has  caused  us  in  this  day  to  overlook  the 
fact  that  the  Pharisaic  sect  grew  out  of  a  strong 
progressive  movement  stimulated  by  the  ancient 
spirit  of  Mosaism  against  a  nominally  conservative 
attitude,  which  had  lost  the  spirit  which  alone  had 
given  value  to  the  things  which  it  sought  to  con- 
serve, while  actually  yielding  itself  to  new  and 
foreign  materialistic  forces.     The  progressive  was 


THE  MACCABEAN   WAR.  71 

loyal  to  the  ancient  spirit,  and  lience  sought  for  it 
new  and  adequate  forms.  The  nominal  conserva- 
tive clung  to  the  old  forms  because,  being  empty- 
now  of  the  ancient  spirit,  he  could  use  them  for  his 
new  purposes.  It  is  a  history  often  repeated.  It 
is  a  thoughtless  error  to  condemn  indiscriminately 
the  sects  of  later  Judaism.  Like  most  sects  they 
were  the  products  of  life  forces.  Differentiation 
and  integration  are  life  processes,  and  scarcely  any 
vital  spiritual  movement  has  ever  been  able  to 
produce  a  new  shoot,  without  differentiating  itself, 
budding,  becoming  a  cutting  or  sect.^ 

The  Maccabean  struggle  was  an  armed  resist- 
ance to  the  conquest  of  Palestine  by  the  Syrian 
type  of  Greek.2  While  the  Maccabees  The  Macca- 
tliemselves  were  for  many  of  their  best  ^^'''"  '^^^' 
characteristics  indebted  to  Greek  influence,  while 
the  particular  form  even  of  their  patriotism  was 
not  without  its  Hellenistic  coloring,^  yet  that  for 

1  "  In  this  way  the  national  spirit  gave  expression  to  the  whole 
of  its  rich  subjectivity  in  a  vigorous,  manifold,  and  sharply  de- 
fined individuality,  which,  flowing-  through  numerous  schools  and 
hundreds  of  synagogues,  passed  into  the  national  life,  and  ulti- 
mately collected  itself,  out  of  this  multitudinous  seething  diver- 
sity, into  the  higher  and  comprehensive  unity."  Keim,  Jesus  of 
Nazara,  vol.  i.,  p.  327.  See  also  the  rest  of  that  most  sugges- 
tive paragraph. 

2  "  The  danger  lay  in  the  absorption  of  Judaism,  not  into  the 
higher  spirit  of  Athens  or  Alexandria,  but  into  that  basest  and 
most  corrupt  form  of  heathenism  of  which  the  very  name  '  Syrus  ' 
or  'Syrian'  was  the  byword."  Stanley,  J/isfory  of  the  Jewish 
Church,  vol.  iii.,  p.  289. 

8  Ibid.,  vol.  iii.,  p.  292. 


72  THE  MACCABEAN   WAB. 

wliicli  tliey  fought  was  the  integrity  and  the  con- 
tinuity of  the  life  which  had  been  created  and  per- 
petuated hitherto  by  the  ancient  spirit  of  the  race. 
In  every  essential  particidar  Judaism  held  its  own 
and  prepared  for  its  culmination. 


III. 

Before  proceeding  to  consider  the  final  mar- 
shaling of  all  those  spiritual  forces  which  may  be 
grasped  together  in  the  one  conception 
of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  it  will  be  necessary  ture  of  the 
to  go  back  and  take  account  of  that  most 
remarkable  product  of  the  specific  energies  of 
Hebraism,  its  inspired  literature.  This  is  better 
treated  separately,  because  it  is  so  commonly  re- 
garded as  the  chief  production,  up  to  this  point, 
of  Hebrew  history,  and  because,  in  an  important 
sense,  that  opinion  is  an  eminently  just  one.  If 
language  is  a  branch  of  sociology,^  then  is  litera- 
ture, which  is  the  highest  development  of  lan- 
guage, one  of  the  highest  products  of  the  social 
activities.  Whatever  rises  to  the  level  of  litera- 
ture carries  along  with  it  into  the  history  of  the 
race  the  people  who  could  give  birth  to  it.  On 
the  other  hand,  no  course  of  history  has  been  able 
to  endure  and  to  continue  to  exercise  an  influence 
in  the  affairs  of  the  race,  which  did  not  bring 
into  existence  a  literature.     Even  a  scrap  or  frag- 

1  "  As  human  thought  is  developed  only  m  and  through  society, 
religion  (like  language  and  ethics)  may  be  regarded  as  a  branch 
of  sociology."     Toy,  Judaism  and  Christianity^  p.  1. 


74  GREEK  LITERATUBE. 

ment,  if  it  be  genuine  literature,  has  a  certain 
power  not  only  to  survive,  but  to  reproduce  some- 
what the  historical  conditions  under  which  it  was 
itself  produced.  The  adage  about  making  the 
songs  of  a  people  and  not  caring  who  makes  their 
laws,  is  a  tribute  to  the  reproductive  power  of 
literature.  But  what  if  the  laws  of  a  people  can 
be  put  into  their  songs?  Well  equipped  indeed 
is  the  nation  whose  laws  have  found  literary  ex- 
pression. 

A  course  of  history  which  has  contrived  to 
secure  some  kind  of  literary  embodiment  for  all 
Greek  uter-  o^  '^^^  primary  elements,  is  fitted,  if  ^  it 
ature.  q^^  prcscrvc  thcsc  documents,  to  survive 

even  its  extermination.  Greece  did  this.  The 
Greek  states  had  long  been  dead,  and  the  Greek 
blood  and  character  were  utterly  weakened;  but 
its  long  buried  classic  literature  was  brought  to 
light,  and  Greece  began  again  to  live.  At  first 
this  was  in  lands  of  alien  blood,  where  through 
the  literature  there  are  perhaps  to-day  more  repre- 
sentatives of  the  Hellenic  type  of  character  than 
ever  lived  at  any  one  time  in  ancient  Greece.  At 
length,  too,  Greece  bids  fair,  still  through  the  stim- 
ulus of  its  classics,  to  recover  something  of  its  old 
glory  on  ancient  soil  and  among  a  people  of 
ancient  lineage.  Nothing  in  the  world  but  litera- 
ture  could  have  done  this. 

One  of  the  efforts  of  science  which  has  attracted 
less   attention  than  it  deserves  is  the  attempt  to 


LITER ABY  PSYCHOLOGY.  75 

construct  psychology  by  a  study  of  language.^ 
Tlie  nature  of  the  mind  is  said  to  be  best  Literary 
known  by  the  philologist.  Language  P^y^^oiogy. 
is  treated  as  a  species  of  brain  or  nerve  matter, 
by  the  dissection  and  observation  of  which  the 
character  and  growth  of  mind  can  be  known. 
Now  literature  is  this  nerve  matter  in  its  larger 
ganglia  and  convolutions.  Literature  may  be 
treated  as  the  brain  structure  of  history,  of  hu- 
manity as  an  organism  distingTiished  from  men  as 
a  multitude.  The  child  which  learns  another  lan- 
guage and  is  imbued  with  another  literature  from 
that  of  his  parents,  passes  over  into  another  histo- 
rical group,  —  belongs  to  another  civilization.  It 
is  not  so  unscientific  to  make  ethnological  classifi- 
cations upon  the  basis  of  language,  for  it  counts 
for  more  than  blood.  The  child  that  learns  no 
language  is  hardly  human,  as  in  the  case  of  chil- 
dren who  have  become  the  foundlings  of  wolves. 
To  learn  language  but  no  literature  is  to  be  barely 
human,  to  be  a  non-historical  man.  Literatiu'e  is 
specifically  higher  than  language.  It  stands  for 
a  higher  type  of  corporate  life.  It  is  the  chief 
agency  through  which  the  higher  historical  forces 
are  transmitted  with  least  refraction  or  deflection 
or  diminution  of  energy. 

It  is  therefore  antecedently  probable  that  along 
with  such  a  course  of  history  as  the  Hebrew  will 

1  Noir^,  Der  Ursprung  der  Sprache.    Max  Miiller,  Science  of 
Thought. 


76  HISTORY  AND  LITEBATUBE. 

be  developed  a  literature  with  corresponding 
History  and  specific  Hiarks.  Not  all  historical  Hiove- 
literature.  ments  havc  bccn  prolific  of  enduring 
literatures.  The  purely  selfish  or  materialistic 
civilizations  have  been  barren  in  this  respect. 
Egypt,  with  all  her  philosophy  and  applied  science 
and  elaborate  religious  system  of  sordid  other- 
worldliness,  has  left  hardly  anything  which  can  be 
called  literature.  Poetry  was  the  first  literature ; 
the  rhythmic  quality,  which  is  essential  to  any 
kind  of  specific  energy,  is  in  some  way  a  character 
of  all  literature  deserving  of  the  name.  It  is  a 
question  whether  war  may  not  have  been  the  first 
stimulus  to  poetry .1  Mere  fighting  rises  to  the 
plane  of  war  when  comradeship,  or  the  tribal  or 
some  other  form  of  corporate  interest,  overpowers 
selfish  interest,  when  society  begins  and  men  are 
animated  by  a  common  spirit.  The  commercial 
spirit  seldom  produces  a  literature.  The  commer- 
cial states  of  Phoenicia  and  Carthage,  though 
they  gave  currency  to  the  world's  alphabet,  left 
no  literary  records.  The  pathetic  thing  about 
Hannibal's  splendid  career  is  that  it  would  have 
been  foro'otten  but  for  the  literature  of  a  hostile 
people,  whom  he  failed  to  conquer  for  the  signifi- 

1  Montesquieu  declares  that  "  war  takes  simultaneous  rise  with 
society."  *'  As  soon  as  man  enters  into  a  state  of  society  he  loses 
the  sense  of  his  weakness ;  equality  ceases,  and  then  commences 
the  state  of  war."  Sinrit  o/Laivs,  Book  I.,  cap.  iii.  Montesquieu 
imagines  that  the  change  was  from  peace  to  war.  It  is  more 
prohahle  that  it  was  from  a  meaner  to  a  nobler  form  of  conflict. 


LITEBATUBE  AND  UEBBEW  LIFE.  11 

cant  reason  that  his  own  people  were  so  under  the 
sway  of  mercantilism  as  to  be  unable  to  see  be- 
yond their  ledger  accounts,  and  hated  men  who, 
like  the  son  of  Hamilcar,  had  any  width  of  hori- 
zon. The  mercantile  civilizations  have  sometimes 
smoothed  the  paths  of  literature ;  they  have  not 
stimulated  its  growth. 

Literature  belongs  to  the  large,  the  free,  the 
humane.  The  Hebrew  history  was  on  the  whole 
the  laro-est,  freest,  purest,  lustiest  history 

-. .        -.         -r  .        T  1  •  1-1      Literature 

yet  lived.  It  contained  nothing  morbid,  and  Hebrew 
weak,  or  hollow.  Its  faults  were  those 
of  an  excess  of  vigor.  That  law  which  requires 
the  living  being,  without  dissipating  its  strength 
or  losing  its  individualism,  to  adapt  itself  to  the 
largest  and  most  diversified  environment,  and  to 
carry  on  within  itself  the  most  varied  functions, 
is  remarkably  exemplified  in  the  course  of  this 
history.  The  balance  between  intensity  of  inter- 
nal action  and  extensiveness  of  relationships  is 
well  maintained,  or,  if  lost,  is  speedily  recovered. 
The  power  to  assimilate  the  best  and  to  reject  the 
worst  in  the  environment  is  well  exercised.  The 
upward  and  downward,  the  forward  and  back- 
ward, the  inward  and  outward  reaches  of  these 
life  forces  are  unexampled.  Its  moral  code,  while 
fitted  for  universal  legislation,  is  perfectly  adapted 
to   time  and  circumstances.^     Its  balance  of   the 

1  "  These  first  men  (the  patriarchs),  without  ever  having  been 
followers  or  pupils  of  any  one,  and  without  ever  having  been 


78  THE  SPIRIT  THE  AGENT. 

individual,  the  family,  the  tribal,  the  national,  the 
cosmopolitan,  and  the  cosmic  interests,  vindicates 
itself  in  the  outcome.  It  would  be  strange  if  such 
a  history  did  not  find  or  make  for  itself  a  corre- 
sponding literature.  It  did  create  such  a  litera- 
ture; and  the  same  spirit  which  is  found  in  the 
history  has  richly  imbued  the  literature. 

The  more  the  Hebrew  national  literature  is 
studied  by  the  best  methods,  the  more  clearly  is 
The  spirit  it  perceived  that  the  Hebrew  spirit  had 
the  agent.  almost  everything  to  do  with  its  produc- 
tion and  preservation.  That  spirit  was  an  essen- 
tial factor  in  providing  both  the  material  and  the 
stimuli  for  the  exercise  of  the  literary  faculty. 
The  words  and  phraseology  of  daily  life  had  been 
coined  under  its  guidance.  As  a  consequence, 
words  of  moral  import  were  more  numerous  and 
more  forceful  than  in  the  cognate  tongues.^  The 
ideas  of  duty  were  more  natural  and  less  fictitious. 
Expressions  for  hope  or  enterprise  were  more 
numerous,  and  had  a  wider  connotation.     Empty 

taught  by  preceptors  what  they  ought  to  do  or  say,  but  having 
embraced  a  line  of  conduct  consistent  with  nature,  from  attend- 
ing to  their  own  natural  impulses  and  from  being  prompted  by 
an  innate  virtue,  and  looking  upon  nature  herself  to  be,  what  in 
fact  she  is,  the  most  ancient  and  duly  established  of  laws,  did  in 
reality  spend  their  whole  lives  in  making  laws."     Philo. 

1  See  a  series  of  articles  entitled  The  Natural  Basis  of  our 
Spiritual  Language,  by  Dr.  Wm.  M.  Thompson,  author  of  The 
Land  and  the  Book,  in  the  Biblioiheca  Sacra,  vols,  xxix-xxxiv. 
See  also  Murray,  Origin  and  Growth  of  the  Psalms,  especially  on 
the  Korahite  songs,  pp.  193  f. 


THE  SPIRIT  THE  AGENT.  79 

terms  of  magic  or  metaphysics,  on  the  other  hand, 
were  fewer;  for  witchcraft  and  the  black  arts 
were  taboo,  and  wholesome  realism  was  the  rul- 
ing tendency.^  The  word  "  spirit,"  for  instance, 
though  crude  enough  in  its  meaning,  erred  on  the 
side  of  realism  rather  than  on  that  of  its  mere 
negation,  like  the  current  conception  of  spirit 
among  us.  As  it  grew  richer  and  more  refined, 
it  retained  instead  of  abstracting  from  the  realism 
of  its  original  sense  of  "wind"  or  "breath,"  until 
it  came  to  have  much  the  signification  we  have 
been  seeking  to  give  to  it,  —  "a  specific  force."  ^ 
Living  as  these  people  did  a  genuine  and  un- 
usually well  proportioned  life,  they  had  a  vocabu- 
lary well  balanced  between  realism  and  idealism, 
conservatism  and  radicalism,  the  sweetness  of 
altruism  and  the  vigor  of  egoism.  Strength  and 
beauty  were  in  the  sanctuary  of  their  language. 
Writers   have  dwelt   upon  the  "  providential " 

1  "  A  sort  of  deism  without  metaphysics  was  what  the  fathers 
of  Judaism  and  Islamism  inaugurated  at  that  early  period,  with 
a  very  sure  and  unerring-  instinct."  Renan,  History  of  the  People 
of  Israel,  vol.  i.,  p.  49. 

2  Piepenbring-,  Theology  of  the  Old  Testament,  pp.  98,  1.56  f .  "  It 
is  a  plain  truth  of  historical  criticism  that  the  conception  corre- 
sponding' to  the  word  iruev/xa  in  Biblical  usage,  like  that  corre- 
sponding to  the  word  vovs  in  classic  Greek,  was  developed  from 
the  physical  and  sensuous  side.  .  .  .  And  when  the  elements  of 
freedom  and  boundlessness  and  spirituality  came  to  be  added  to 
those  of  activity  and  power,  the  resulting  conception  of  the  divine 
spirit  is  that  of  a  free  and  boundless  spiritual  energy."  Ladd, 
Doctrine  of  Sacred  Scripture,  vol.  ii.,  p.  3.57. 


80      THE  COUNTRY  AND   THE  LITERATUBE. 

influence  upon  the  Hebrew  tongue  of  tlieir  rugged 
and   not   over  fertile  hill  country.^     As 

The  country  ^      o  i  •  ••in 

and  the  ut-     we  saw  beiorc,  this  was  a  spiritual  rather 

erature.  ^  •  i         •    i  »»    •     n 

than  a  "  providential  influence,  since  it 
was  the  Hebrew  spirit  which  led  to  the  choice  of 
that  country.  When  the  Syrians  said  that  the 
God  of  the  Israelites  was  "  a  God  of  the  hills," 
they  had  hold  of  a  fact  which  had  not  come  about 
by  accident.  The  spiritual  instinct  had  sought 
those  hills.  The  literature  likewise  has  been  pro- 
foundly affected,  in  many  ways,  by  the  love  of 
Israel  for  the  holy  city  Jerusalem.  "  They  shall 
prosper  that  love  thee,"  they  sang  with  good 
reason  ;  for  Palestine  worshij)  and  Jerusalem  wor- 
ship had  sprung  from  the  promptings  of  the 
Hebrew  spirit,  and  had  more  than  once  preserved 
the  national  existence.  This  fact  was  the  source 
of  many  of  the  idioms  and  much  of  the  literature 
of  the  Hebrew  tongue. 

Every  people  has  many  current  aphorisms, 
which  invariably  have  their  part  to  play  in  litera- 
Proverbiai  turc,  and  may  be  collected  into  a  liter- 
literature.  ^^^^^  ^^  themsclvcs.  Undoubtedly  a 
good  part  of  Shakespeare's  wisdom  is  borrowed 
from  or  suggested  by  the  proverbs  which  circulated 
among  the  people  of  his  day.  These  aphorisms 
have  the  ring  of  the  average  social  tone.  One  can 
guess  at  the  tone  of  a  community  by  the  character 
of  the  sayings  which  are  taken  seriously.  A  spirit 
1  See  note  1,  p.  78. 


TRADITIONAL  LEGENDS.  81 

largely  prevalent  in  America  is  indicated  by  the 
currency  of  such  proverbs  as  "  Nothing  succeeds 
like  success,"  or  "Money  talks."  The  proverbs 
current  in  Israel  show  the  hio^h  averasfe  of  thought 

o  o  o 

and  morals  of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  and  not  a  few  of 
them  its  secret  prophetic  messianic  instinct. 

Besides  coining  words  or  idioms,  and  giving 
currency  to  aphorisms,  the  Hebrew  spirit  seems 
to  have  had  a  dominating  influence  in  Traditional 
determining  the  character  of  the  tradi-  ^^s®"'^^- 
tional  narratives  or  heroic  tales,  which  probably 
went  long  in  oral  form  before  they  were  reduced 
to  writing.  It  is  difficult  or  impossible  at  this 
distance  to  decide  how  far  the  literary  form  of 
these  traditions  is  to  be  attributed  to  the  people 
as  a  whole,  and  how  far  to  the  individual  authors 
or  redactors.  It  will  be  unnecessary,  for  our  pur- 
pose, even  to  guess.  But  it  will  be  worth  while 
to  note  how  specifically  different  are  the  literary 
results  secured  in  the  Hebrew  editions  of  certain 
traditions  as  contrasted  with  those  obtained  else- 
where. It  is  "  in  the  handling  of  the  tradition," 
as  Horton  says,^  that  the  difference  appears.  This 
is  made  striking  if  they  are  placed  in  parallel 
columns  like  this  :  — 

'' At  that  time  the  heaven  "In    the    begmning   God 

above  had  not  announced,  or  created  the  heaven  and  the 

the   earth  beneath   recorded  earth.     And   the   earth   was 

a  name;  the  unopened  deep  waste  and   void  ;  and  dark- 

^  Eevelation  and  the  Bible,  p.  43. 


82 


TRADITIONAL  LEGENDS. 


was  their  generator,  Mummu 
Tiamat  (the  chaos  of  the 
sea)  was  the  mother  of  them 
all.  Their  waters  were  em- 
bosomed as  one,  and  the 
cornfield  was  imharvested, 
the  pasture  was  ungrown. 
At  that  time  the  gods  had 
not  appeared,  any  of  them, 
by  no  name  were  they  re- 
corded, no  destiny  (had  they 
fixed).  Then  the  (great)  gods 
were  created. 

"  Lakhmu  and  Lakhamu 
issued  forth  (the  first),  until 
they  grew  up  (when)  An-sar 
and  Ki-sar  were  created. 
Long  were  the  days,  extended 
(was  the  time,  and)  the  gods 
Anu  (Bel  and  Ea  were  born). 
An-sar  and  Ki-sar  gave  them 
birth."  1 


"  Anu  illuminated  the 
Moon-god  that  he  might 
watch  over  the  night,  and 
ordained  him  for  the  ending 
of  the  night  that  the  day  may 
be  known  (saying).  Month 
by  month,  without  break, 
keep  watch  in  thy  disk;    At 


ness  was  upon  the  face  of 
the  deep  :  and  the  spirit  of 
God  moved  upon  the  face  of 
the  waters.  And  God  said, 
Let  there  be  light:  and  there 
was  light.  And  God  saw  the 
light,  that  it  was  good:  and 
God  divided  the  light  from 
the  darkness. 


"  These  are  the  generations 
of  the  heaven  and  of  the 
earth  when  they  were  created, 
in  the  day  that  the  Lord  God 
made  earth  and  heaven. 

"  And  no  plant  of  the  field 
was  yet  in  the  earth,  and  no 
herb  of  the  field  had  yet 
sprung  up :  for  the  Lord  God 
had  not  caused  it  to  rain 
upon  the  earth,  and  there 
was  not  a  man  to  till  the 
ground."  ^ 

"  And  God  said.  Let  there 
be  lights  in  the  firmament  of 
the  heaven  to  divide  the  day 
from  the  night ;  and  let  them 
be  for  signs,  and  for  seasons, 
and  for  days  and  years:  and 
let  them  be  for  lights  in  the 
firmament  of  the  heaven  to 


1  Sayce,  Hibbert  Lectures  for  1887,  pp.  384,  385. 

2  Gen.  i.  1-4,  ii.  4-6. 


TRADITIONAL  LEGENDS.  83 

the  beginning  of  the  month  give  light  upon  the  earth  : 
kindle  the  night,  announcing  and  it  was  so.  And  God 
(thy)  horns  that  the  heaven  made  the  two  great  lights  ; 
may  know.  On  the  seventh  the  greater  light  to  rule  the 
day,  (filling  thy)  disk,  thou  day,  and  the  lesser  light  to 
shalt  open  indeed  (its)  nar-  rule  the  night  :  he  made  the 
row  contraction."!  stars    also.      And    God    set 

them  in  the  firmament  of  the 
heaven  to  give  light  upon 
the  earth."  2 

Without  asking  when  either  of  these  narratives 
received  its  present  form,  or  which  is  the  older,  or 
whether  either  depends  upon  the  other,  it  is  clear 
that  they  both  deal  with  the  same  raw  material  of 
leofend.  It  matters  not  to  us  whether  one  cor- 
rupted  or  the  other  corrected  this  material,  or 
whether  both  of  these  things  happened.  AVe  can- 
not fail  to  observe  the  difference  between  them, 
and  the  distinctively  literary  as  well  as  Hebrew 
tone  of  the  Biblical  account.  No  translation 
seems  to  be  able  to  put  a  spark  of  poetry  into  the 
Babylonian  version.  It  is  prosy.  No  exegesis  can 
get  any  spark  of  true  philosophy  out  of  it.  It  is 
mere  mythology.  On  the  other  hand,  no  rabbini- 
cal gloss  can  quite  hide  the  poetry  and  philosophy 
in  the  Hebrew  version.^ 

1  Sayce,  p.  389.  2  Gen.  i.  14-17. 

8  Because  of  this  difference  the  Hebrew  story  has  been  able 
not  only  to  survive,  but  to  hold  a  place  as  a  force  in  history  which 
the  other  never  could.  Its  advocates  may  throw  down  the  gaunt- 
let on  its  behalf  as  Origen  did  on  behalf  of  the  Scripture  com- 
pared with  the  Greek  poets  :  "  And  challenging  a  comparison  of 


84  DOCTRINE  OF  GOD  AND   OF  THE   WORLD. 

It  manifests  the  Hebrew  sanity  and  spirituality 

of  conception.     It  speaks  of  but  one  God,  and  lie 

was  not  begotten  by  nature,  but  was  in 

Doctrine  of        ,  .        .  *^ 

God  and  of     the    begiunmo^   and   created   it.     He   so 

the  world.  .  ° 

created  it  too  that  it  needed  no  demi- 
gods to  keep  it  going.  As  little  did  it  need  his 
interference.  Nature  was  an  automatism.  The 
sun,  moon,  and  stars  were  not  persons  but  things, 
and  ruled  day  and  night  and  the  seasons  like 
clockwork.  The  animals  and  the  plants  also  re- 
produced automatically  after  their  kind.  Man 
had  a  universe  of   law  to  live  in,  with  only  one 

book  with  book,  say,  come  now,  good  sir,  and  take  down  the 
poems  of  Linus  and  of  Musaeus  and  of  Orpheus  and  the  writings 
of  Phereeydes,  and  carefully  compare  these  with  the  laws  of 
Moses,  —  historians  with  historians,  and  ethical , discourses  with 
laws  and  commandments,  —  and  see  which  of  the  two  are  better 
fitted  to  change  the  character  of  the  hearer  on  the  very  spot,  and 
which  to  harden  him  in  his  wickedness ;  and  observe  that  your 
writers  display  little  concern  for  those  readers  who  are  to  peruse 
them  at  once  unaided,  but  have  composed  their  philosophy  for 
those  who  are  able  to  comprehend  its  metaphorical  and  allegori- 
cal signification ;  whereas  Moses,  like  a  distinguished  orator  who 
undertakes  some  figure  of  rhetoric,  and  who  carefully  introduces 
into  every  part  language  of  twofold  meaning,  has  done  this  in 
his  five  books ;  neither  affording  in  the  portion  which  relates  to 
morals  any  handle  to  his  Jewish  subjects  for  committing  evil ; 
nor  yet  giving  to  the  few  individuals  who  were  endowed  with 
greater  wisdom  and  who  were  capable  of  investigating  his  mean- 
ing a  treatise  devoid  of  material  for  specidation."  We  know 
in  behalf  of  what  erroneous  doctrine  Origen  said  these  things. 
Yet  the  error  of  Origen  grew  out  of  the  dim  perception  of  the 
outlines  of  a  great  fact  whose  very  existence  most  of  his  con- 
temporaries failed  to  discern. 


DOCTRINE  OF  GOD  AND  OF  THE   WORLD.      85 

God  to  deal  with,  and  that  a  God  who  was  not 
forever  capriciously  intermeddling.  "Law  is 
king  of  all  things."  This  God  rules  the  imper- 
sonal universe  by  mechanism,  and  meets  man 
more  directly  as  God  in  the  plane  of  personal, 
that  is  spiritual,  intercourse  alone  ;  man  is  the  only 
demigod,  the  only  lord  of  creation,  under  the  one 
supreme  and  transcendent  God.  He  is  to  subdue 
nature  through  his  likeness  to  God,  in  knowing 
and  conforming  to  her  mechanical  modes  of  proce- 
dure. The  search  for  the  agreement  between 
Genesis  and  physical  science  has  usually  gone  off 
on  the  wrong  scent.  That  agreement  is  more  fun- 
damental than  is  often  guessed  at.  Genesis  gives 
a  solid  basis  for  physical  science  by  inventing 
a  conception  of  an  automatic  material  order,  a 
nature  governed  by  law.  It  invents  this,  however, 
not  because  it  cares  anything  for  science  as  such, 
but  because  its  spirit  instinctively  shuns  the  fan- 
tastic, the  unreal,  the  morbid.  The  same  spirit 
which  had  put  the  thought  of  the  future  life  aside, 
and  banished  witchcraft  and  necromancy,  cleaned 
out  of  the  legend  of  creation  the  whole  brood  of 
mythological  abominations  which  stood  in  the  way 
of  a  wholesome  relationship  between  man  and  the 
natural  order.^ 

1  "  '  In  the  beginning  God  created  the  heaven  and  the  earth ' 
was  like  the  cold  mistral  which  cleared  the  sky,  like  the  sweep 
of  the  broom  which  relegated  from  beyond  our  horizon  the  chi- 
meras which  darkened  it.     A  free  will,  as  implied  in  the  words, 


86  DOCTRINE  OF  EVIL. 

The  apparent  exception  to  this  is  where  the 
presence  of  evil  is  accounted  for,  in  the  Jehovistic 
Doctrine  of  document,  by  the  retention  of  the  legend 
^''^^-  of  the   serpent  as  a  kind  of   jinn.^     In 

the  same  document  is  also  what  some  think  a 
vestige  of  a  parallel  effort  to  account  for  the  pre- 
sence of  evil  by  the  intermarriage  of  the  daughters 
of  men  with  demigods. ^  One  of  the  explanations 
offered  is  that  this  document  is  of  great  age,  and 
that  the  Hebrew  spirit  had  not  yet  gained  enough 
ascendency  to  be  able  to  refine  away  all  mytho- 
logy. Yet  the  survival  of  the  legend  is  not  so 
discreditable  to  the  spirit  of  the  writer  or  editor. 
He  was  here  confronting  the  one  insoluble  pro- 
blem of  the  ages,  the  one  thing  in  this  world  that 
seems  to  be  absolutely  lawless,  the  presence  of  sin. 
Whether  he  borrowed  the  idea  from  the  followers 
of  Zoroaster,  or  discovered  it  himself,  or  carried 
it  over  from  primitive  traditions,  here  was  the  one 
sole  obstacle  to  the  coordination  of  the  whole 
known  universe  under  the  rule  of  law.  To  ignore 
this   enigma   would   have  been   unworthy  of   the 

*  He  created,'  substituted  for  ten  thousand  capricious  fancies,  is  a 
progress  of  its  kind.  The  great  truth  of  the  unity  of  the  world 
and  of  the  absolute  solidarity  of  all  its  parts,  which  polytheism 
failed  to  appreciate,  is  at  least  clearly  perceived  in  these  narra- 
tives." Renan,  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  vol.  i.,  p.  67.  "  The 
Yahvist,  or  whatever  else  you  may  call  this  author,  spoke  and 
wrote  under  the  instruction  of  a  Holy  Spirit  of  truth,  and  told 
the  world  what  the  world  but  for  such  teaching-  mig-ht  not  recog- 
nize even  now."  Horton,  Eevelation  and  the  Bible,  p.  40. 
1  Gen.  iii.  2  jii^i  yi  i_4. 


DOCTBINE  OF  EVIL.  87 

moral  seriousness  and  depth  of  the  Hebrew  spirit. 
To  have  solved  it  as  the  Persian  did  by  two  equal 
gods  would  have  been  to  go  back  upon  the  splen- 
did Hebrew  optimism.  But  here  it  was.  Now 
the  mythological  creatures  stood  for  lawlessness, 
caprice.  He  banished  all  of  them  but  one.  That 
one  he  employed  as  a  temporary  expedient  in 
order  to  account  for  the  introduction  of  lawless- 
ness into  the  human  heart.  Then  he  immediately 
degraded  it  to  the  position  of  a  mere  uncanny 
brute,  reducing  superstition  concerning  it  to  a 
minimum,  and  chanting  over  that  a  song  of  tri- 
umph.^ The  ingenuity  with  which  the  subject  is 
dealt  with  is  admirable,  and  fully  congruous  with 
the  Hebrew  spirit.  The  realm  of  lawlessness  in 
nature  is  reduced  to  the  smallest  possible  area, 
with  the  promise  of  extinction,  while  the  truth  is 
emphasized  that  man  is  the  real  marplot,  and 
hence  that  upon  him  rests  the  responsibility  for 
undoing  the  wrong.  Thus  full  force  is  given  to 
moral  obligation  by  locating  evil  henceforth  in  the 
moral  sphere,  and  laying  stress  upon  moral  free- 
dom. Man  is  the  only  lawbreaker  who  needs  to 
be  taken  into  consideration.  Here  also  is  the 
basis  for  optimism,  since  evil  is  no  longer  a  thing 
of  physical  necessity.     Man  can  abolish  it.^ 

1  Ibid.  iii.  15. 

2  "  The  earliest  patriarchs  of  the  human  race  appear  as  simple 
men.  They  are  endowed  with  no  divine  qualities.  Between  the 
God  of  Israel  and  the  founders  of  human  society,  the  division, 
according  to  the  Hebrew  narrative,  is  complete.     This,  of  course, 


88  GENEALOGY. 

It  is  not  a  part  of  our  purpose  to  cover  in  detail 
the  Hebrew  literature,  showing  how  it  has  been 
dominated  by  the  Hebrew  spirit.  It  is 
enough  to  hint  at  it.  Other  hints  are 
found  sometimes  in  the  most  unlikely  places. 
Genealogies  are  dry  reading,  and  those  in  the 
Book  of  the  Genesis  possess  no  authority  to  the 
ethnologist.  But  they  are  richly  inspired  in  the 
sense  that  they  were  dictated  by  the  Hebrew 
spirit,  which  was  not  content  without  affirming 
the  unity  of  the  race.^  It  was  not  the  scientific 
apprehension  of  the  law  of  parsimony  that  gave 
birth  to  these  genealogies,  but  the  dawning  of  that 
sense  of  brotherhood  which  was  to  flood  the  world 
one  day  with  new  light.  When  we  realize  the 
motive  for  seeking  not  to  omit  any  peoples  from 

may  have  been  the  characteristic  of  the  Hebrew  tradition  from 
the  first.  But  it  appears  more  reasonable  to  ascribe  the  exceed- 
ing purity  and  simplicity  of  the  narrative  to  the  prophetic  writer, 
who,  writing  in  the  spirit  and  power  of  Jehovah,  has  moulded 
the  traditions  of  his  race  into  perfect  harmony  with  the  religious 
truths  of  which  he  was  the  inspired  exponent."  Ryle,  Early 
Narratives  of  Genesis,  pp.  66,  67. 

1  "  Wearisome  as  the  list  of  names  will  seem,  it  is  the  more 
necessary  for  us  to  recognize  its  place  and  its  true  religious  signi- 
ficance in  the  Hebrew  scrijitures.  It  reminded  the  Israelites 
that  God  made  of  one  blood  all  the  nations  of  the  earth,  and  that 
the  heathen,  who  knew  not  Jehovah,  were  nevertheless  brethren 
of  Israel.  It  reminded  him  that  his  own  nation  was  only  one 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth,  by  origin  and  descent  in  no  way 
separated  from  them,  but  only,  by  the  grace  of  God,  selected 
and  chosen,  to  be  the  bearer  of  His  revelation  to  the  world." 
Ibid.,  p.  123. 


PEOrUETIC  GUILDS.  89 

that  table,  tlie  whole  list  begins  to  glow  with  some- 
thing like  a  spiritual  warmth.  Long  catalogues 
of  names,  like  those  in  Ezra  and  Nehemiah,  need 
only  to  be  read  sympathetically  in  order  to  discern 
the  spirit  of  nation-making  and  nation-saving  in 
the  minds  of  those  who  recorded  them.  As  the 
blind  bard  of  Greece  rolled  from  his  lips  the 
names  of  the  ships  that  went  to  the  war  against 
Troy,  his  listeners  doubtless  felt  that  without  it 
the  great  epic  would  be  incomplete  as  the  bible  of 
the  Hellenic  national  life.  Thus  the  members 
of  a  body  of  literature  which  seem  to  be  more 
feeble  spiritually,  are  necessary ;  and  those  mem- 
bers which  we  think  to  be  less  honorable,  upon 
them,  after  we  have  used  spiritual  discernment, 
we  bestow  more  abimdant  honor. 

The  way  in  which  the  spirit  influenced  the 
writers  varied  indefinitely,  according  to  the  age 
and  class  to  which  they  belonged,  and  prophetic 
their  personal  circumstances  and  idiosyn-  ^"'^'^^* 
crasies.  In  earlier  days,  guilds  or  schools  of  pro- 
phets existed,  allied  to  similar  circles  in  heathen- 
dom. They  engaged  in  divination,  and  went 
about  in  companies,  speaking  under  ecstatic  or 
trance  conditions.  These  experiences  were  more 
or  less  contagious ;  so  that  a  person  sensitively 
constituted,  like  Saul,  with  a  strong  nature  not 
well  disciplined,  tainted  with  epilepsy  or  touched 
with  superstition,  was  easily  caught  by  the  enthu- 
siasm.^  In  spite  of  the  extravagances  and  the 
1  1  Sam.  X.  9-13. 


90  THEIB   CONQUEST  BY   THE  SPIRIT. 

morbid  character  of  many  of  tlieir  performances, 
these  guilds  contained  members  of  delicate  and 
peculiar  susceptibility,  upon  the  choicest  of  whom 
the  normal  Hebrew  spirit  could  work  with  much 
force ;  and,  since  speaking  was  part  of  their  trade, 
it  could  produce  through  them  literary  expressions 
of  itself.  The  medium  naturally  speaks  the  senti- 
ments and  uses  the  stock  notions  and  phrases  of 
his  sect,  and  more  faithfully  in  his  trance  than  at 
other  times.  It  is  one  of  the  peculiarities  of 
trance  speaking  never  to  originate  a  new  idea. 
But  if  new  ideas  from  outside  his  sect  begin  to 
stir  profoundly  any  member  of  it,  he  is  still  likely 
to  seek  to  give  expression  to  these  ideas  in  trance, 
and  to  strain  the  inadequate  set  phrases,  until  the 
new  wine  bursts  the  old  bottles,  and  he  breaks 
away  altogether  from  his  sect.  Then,  though  he 
may  cease  to  submit  to  trance  conditions,  many  of 
their  characteristics  still  cling  to  him. 

It  is  not  difficult  to  trace  in  the  Hebrew  litera- 
ture the  gradual  conquest  or  superseding  of  the 
prophetic  guilds  by  the  growing  power 
queSbT  of  this  healthful  social  force.  As  its 
the  spirit.  g^i-^jg^i  nature  gained  more  control,  the 
trance  gave  way  to  moral  exaltation  ;  and  since 
communistic  prophecy  put  certain  hindrances  in 
the  way  of  a  progressive  spirit,  which  needed  the 
freedom  of  individualism  for  its  best  expression, 
the  prophets  of  power  threw  off  allegiance  to  the 
schools,!  which   thus   lost   footing,   declined   and 

i  Amos  vii.  14. 


PEN-POINT  INSPIBATION.  91 

became  extinct.  They  left  their  traces,  however, 
upon  literary  style,  and  it  is  not  always  clear  how 
far  the  writers  of  certain  books  employed  their 
methods  of  expression  in  free  allegory,  or  how 
far  they  were  actually  under  conditions  more  or 
less  trancelike.  It  is  Clear,  however,  that  but 
for  the  conquest  of  these  guilds  by  the  distinc- 
tively Hebrew  spirit,  none  of  the  apparently 
trance  prophecies  which  have  come  down  to  us 
would  have  been  preserved  or  have  deserved  pre- 
servation. "  The  Jewish  prophets,"  said  Origen, 
*' instead  of  being  made  beside  themselves,  and 
frenzied  and  darkened  when  they  prophesied,  be- 
came more  mentally  lucid,  and  their  souls  were 
filled  with  a  clearer  light."  It  was  this  spirit 
which  led  to  the  use  of  writing  by  the  prophets. 
Their  specifically  Hebrew  faith  and  patience 
taught  them  to  lift  their  voices  for  future  genera- 
tions, when  their  own  would  not  hearken.  "  And 
the  Lord  answered  me,"  said  Habakkuk,^  "and 
said,  Write  the  vision,  and  make  it  plain  upon 
tables,  that  he  may  run  that  readeth  it.  For  the 
vision  is  yet  for  an  appointed  time,  but  at  the  end 
it  shall  speak." 

In  general  the  Hebrew  writers  were  under  no 
other  kind  of  excitement  than  that  which  normally 
accompanies  vigorous   composition,   and  pen-point 
the  spirit  of  their  writings  reflected  the  ^'^'^^'^^^^''^ 
ordinary  spirit  of  the  men  themselves.     "  We  see," 

1  Hab.  ii.  2,  3. 


92  EAJRLIEST  MANIFESTATION. 

to  quote  Orlgen  again,  "  that  the  noble,  earnest, 
and  devout  lives  of  these  men  were  worthy  of  the 
inspiration  of  the  Divine  Spirit."     When  they  ex- 
pressed more  than  had  come  to  clear  consciousness 
in  their  own  minds,  they  did  it  as  any  one   may 
who  writes  out  of  a  rich  and  genuine  experience. 
Occasionally  there  is  in  them  what  might  be  called 
a  pen-point  inspiration.     A  writer,  hurried  on  by 
an  occasion,  throws  himself  into  the  current  of  a 
language  whose  genius  leads  in  the  direction  of  his 
own  thought,  and  is  carried  beyond  himself.     The 
mutually  supplementary  spiritual  tensions  of  the 
writer,  the  language  and  the  occasion,  issue,  under 
the  strain  of  composition,  in  a  writing  possessing 
in  an  exceptional  degree  the  spiritual  character. 
Since  the  genius  of  the  Hebrew  dialect  had  been 
profoundly  affected  from  the  earliest  times  by  the 
Hebrew  spirit,  since   the   crises  which   produced 
these  writings  had  also  been  brought  about  largely 
by  the  same  spirit,  and  since  the  writers  were  es- 
pecially affected   thereby,   this   phenomenon   was 
likely  to  be  of  no  uncommon  occurrence. 

It  is  possible,  and  it  would  accord  with  certain 
tenaciously  held  opinions  on  the  subject  of  inspira- 
tion, that  the  first  distinctively  spiritual 
manifesta-  phenomenon  may  have  appeared  as  the 
result  of  some  such  favorable  conjunction 
of  causes  as  above  mentioned.  It  is  possible  that 
to  Moses,  or  whoever  it  was  who  first  set  going  in 
history  the  specifically  Hebrew  spirit  as  a  force, 


LITERATURE  IN  CIVILIZATION.  93 

that  spirit  may  have  come  in  the  form  of  some  bit 
of  poetry,  inspired  folk-lore,  surcharged  with  the 
spirit,  which  carried  over  from  prehistoric  life  the 
saving  force  for  the  modern.  The  spontaneous 
generation  of  specific  spirits,  without  the  interposi- 
tion of  spiritual  causes,  is  not  likely  to  happen  fre- 
quently. Nature  is  sparing  of  spontaneous  pro- 
duction of  special  effects  where  special  causes  are 
at  all  within  reach.  If  the  conditions  are  halfway 
favorable  to  the  spontaneous  production  of  these 
effects,  they  are  so  wholly  favorable  to  the  action 
of  existing  causes  that  the  probabilities  are  over- 
whelming that  these  existing  causes  will  find  them 
out  and  anticipate  spontaneity.  The  first  specific  ap- 
pearance of  the  Hebrew  spirit  must  have  occurred 
at  some  time,  and  there  is  at  least  some  antecedent 
probability  that  it  appeared  in  the  form  of  pen- 
point  or  tongue-point  inspiration.  Its  beginning 
is  certainly  lost  in  the  twilight  of  the  ages.  Some 
of  the  literary  constituents  of  the  book  of  Genesis 
are  apparently  of  prehistoric  antiquity.  Their  in- 
spiration may  have  been  equally  ancient,  and  they 
may  have  started  the  fires  that  kindled  the  inspi- 
rational glow  of  history. 

It  is  according  to  psychology  and  actual  history 
that  the  specific  spiritual  forces  of  civilization 
should  operate  in  the  form  of  literature.  Literature  in 
Whether  at  the  very  start  the  history  <=i^'"==^ti°"- 
produced  the  literature,  or  the  literature  the  history, 
would  be  hard  to  determine,  —  whether  the  mar- 


94  LITERATURE  A  FORCE. 

tial  spirit  brouglit  forth  the  war  song,  or  the  song 
lifted  mere  fighting  into  war.  But  in  the  course 
of  centuries  the  literature  is  as  much  a  cause  as  an 
effect.  The  forces  of  history  find  their  embodi- 
ments and  channels  in  literature.  The  writing  of 
history  has  become  a  new  science  by  the  applica- 
tion of  the  literary  sense  to  the  pursuit  of  its  data. 
Even  professedly  historical  writings  are  treated  no 
longer  as  history,  but  as  literature  out  of  which 
true  historical  data  are  to  be  smelted  by  the  fires 
of  literary  criticism,^  by  which  means  the  results 
secured  are  much  richer.  The  reason  for  this  lies 
in  the  fact  that  literature  possesses  an  elective 
affinity  by  which  it  lays  hold  of  what  is  most  char- 
acteristic of  its  age.  "  I  would  give,"  says  M. 
Taine,  "  fifty  volumes  of  charters  and  a  hundred 
volumes  of  state  papers  for  the  Memoirs  of  Cellini, 
the  Epistles  of  St.  Paul,  the  Table  Talk  of  Lu- 
ther, or  the  Comedies  of  Aristophanes."  The  im- 
portance of  literature,  he  says  further,  is  that,  if  it 
preserves  documents,  it  preserves  them  not  indis- 
criminately, but  as  monuments ;  in  other  words, 
their  value  is  not  in  what  they  say,  but  in  that 
which  lies  behind  what  they  say. 

But  the  value  of  literature  in  the  rewriting  of 
history  is  of  minor  account  compared  with  its  value 
Literature  ^^  ^  rc-crcator  of  history.  "  The  most 
a  force.  potcut  and  lasting  influence  in  the  civili- 
zation of  generations  is  literature."  History  has 
1  Matthew  Arnold,  Literature  and  Dogma. 


LITERATURE  A  FORCE.  95 

been  more  tlian  rewritten  within  the  century.  In 
many  parts  of  the  world  it  has  been  reenactecl. 
The  lost  threads  of  national  and  race  continuities 
have  been  picked  up,  and  seemingly  dead  nations 
have  been  resurrected,  either  by  the  renewal  of  the 
study  of  their  ancient  literatures  or  by  the  creation 
of  new  ones ;  or  more  often  the  study  of  early 
literatures  has  imparted  a  new  literary  impulse, 
and  through  it  has  revived  the  national  spirit. 
There  is  no  more  striking  phenomenon  in  our  day 
than  the  awakening  or  reawakening  of  national  or 
race  consciousnesses.  They  represent  powers  that 
are  almost  irresistible.  No  one  cause  has  contrib- 
uted more  to  produce  these  awakenings  than  litera- 
ture. They  are  the  later  and  more  soundly  ripened 
fruit  of  the  revival  of  learning,  as  the  French 
Revolution,  with  its  travesty  on  brotherhood,  was 
the  premature  and  imperfect  fruit. 

What  Comte  called   "  the  spiritual  reorganiza- 
tion of  modern  society  "  is  largely  traceable  to  the 
influence  of  literature.     It  is  the  mirror 
in  which  nations  most   commonly  learn  and  the 
first  to  recognize  their  own  features.     It  tionof 
is  the  memory  in  which  this  knowledge   ^°^^^  ^* 
is  sometimes  covered  out  of  sight   for   centuries, 
waiting   a   favorable   opportunity   to   come   back 
again  to  consciousness  and  activity.    No  other  store- 
house can  preserve  spiritual  forces  fresh  while  un- 
used.    Institutions  change  or  let  down  their  tone 
with  that  of  the  series  of  generations  which  must 


96  LITERARY  FACTOR  ANCIENT. 

maintain  and  perpetuate  them.  Customs  become 
shams,  and  can  be  reformed  only  by  destroying 
tliem.  Creeds  become  shackles.  Codes  and  con- 
stitutions clog  the  wheels  of  progress  when  condi- 
tions change,  and  often  have  to  be  gotten  rid  of  by 
revolution.  Blood  does  not  insure  the  transmis- 
sion of  civilization.  But  literature  possesses  peculiar 
qualities  of  living  persistency  and  power.  It  is  the 
better  and  more  incorruptible  after  it  has  become 
stereotyped.  If  it  be  true  literature,  it  is  then 
crowned  as  classic.  It  cannot  be  dragged  down 
by  the  degradation  of  a  people,  but  remains  to 
reproach  and  call  them  to  repentance.  It  neither 
rusts  from  neglect,  nor  wears  out  in  use.  It  may  be 
long  buried  in  forgotten  alcoves,  or  dead  tongues, 
or  deader  traditional  glosses,  and  yet  it  will  come 
out  as  good  as  new.  For  this  reason  it  is  difficidt 
to  exaggerate  the  power  of  literature  as  a  working 
factor  in  the  making  of  history ;  in  originating, 
conserving,  and  renewing  institutions  and  customs  ; 
in  giving  cumulative  force  to  progressive  tendencies 
toward  righteousness,  truth,  or  beauty ;  in  moulding 
and  regenerating  individual  character ;  in  perpet- 
uating undiminished  the  power  of  individual  in- 
fluence;  in  performing  the  office  of  an  almost 
plenipotentiary  agent  for  spiritual  forces. 

It  is  probable  that  during  the  whole  course  of 
Literary  fac-  Hebrcw  history  there  were  literary  ele- 
tor  ancient,  j^gni^g  operating  as  causes,  helping  to  con- 
serve the  best  fruits  of  the  spirit  or  to  perpetuate 


LITER ABY  FACTOR  ANCIENT.  97 

them  in  kind.  The  habit  of  quoting,  which  appears 
early,  gives  intimation  of  this.  The  fragment  con- 
cerning the  "  mountain  of  the  Lord's  house,"  pre- 
served by  Isaiah  and  Micah,i  is  an  illustration. 
So  is  the  fact  that  at  least  two  independent  ver- 
sions of  the  story  of  the  creation  and  the  flood  were 
extant,  both  with  the  spirit's  stamp  upon  them. 
The  Decalogue,  though  probably  originally  a  docu- 
ment, was  preserved,  not  as  a  mere  document,  but 
in  a  literary  setting,  and  thus  with  the  peculiar 
energy  of  position  which  belongs  to  literature. 
These  are  hints  that  literary  coadjutors  were  not 
wanting  to  the  other  agencies  of  the  Hebrew  spirit 
during  any  considerable  part  of  the  long  course  of 
history  before  the  reorganization  under  Ezra. 

As  a  genius,  seizing  the  opportunity  which  the 
Hebrew  spirit  and  the  occasion  presented,  Ezra 
holds  a  first  rank,  even  though  he  may  have  done 
but  a  small  part  of  that  which  tradition  assigns 
to  him.  Such  a  crisis  was  upon  the  Hebrew 
people  that  there  was  no  safe  refuge  for  the 
national  life  and  hope,  for  the  spirit,  except  in  a 
classic  literature.  This  refuge  Ezra  and  his  com- 
panions and  successors  set  to  work  to  prepare. 
The  gTcatest  event  since  the  Exodus  was  the  be- 
ginning of  a  collection  of  sacred  writings,  and  of 
the  formation  of  the  first  framework  of  a  canon. 
It  was  the  one  most  essential  thing.  Had  every- 
thing else  been  done  and  this  omitted,  failure 
1  Isa.  u.  2  f . ;  Mic.  iv.  1  f . 


98  THE  SPIBIT  AND   THE  CANON. 

would  have  been  certain.  Had  this  been  done 
and  everything  else  omitted,  success  might  still 
have  been  possible. 

In  the  final  shape  which  this  body  of  literature 

took,   and  the  choice  of  what  should  and  should 

not  enter  the  canon,  we  are  able  to  dis- 

The  spirit  i  tt   t 

and  the         ccm   the   Hebrcw   spu^it   exercising    its 

cauou.  .  •  T         1 

most  specinc  energies,  in  the  attempt 
to  make  a  single  narrative  out  of  the  several  crea- 
tion documents,  its  presence  is  unmistakable.  It 
writes  with  a  purpose,  an  educational  aim.  As 
Macaulay's  "  History  of  England  "  was  a  political 
campaign  document,  and  has  had  a  good  deal  to 
do  not  only  with  bringing  England  up  to  Macau- 
lay's  idea  of  what  it  should  be,  but  with  carrying 
it  farther  than  he  would  have  wished,  so  the 
Hebrew  writings  were  collected  and  edited,  and 
parts  of  them  written  or  rewritten,  as  campaign 
literature  for  use  in  the  final  and  successful  strug- 
gle for  the  ascendency  of  the  Hebrew  spirit  in 
the  world's  affairs.  Ezra's  school  of  scribes  was 
the  first  campaign  literary  bureau,  and  their  suc- 
cessors were  true  to  their  methods.  This  liter- 
ature was  designed  by  its  publishers  not  only  to 
foretell  the  messianic  era,  but  to  bring  it  in.  Its 
conservatism  always  had  an  eye  out  for  the  future. 
What  it  was  conserving,  though  the  individual 
writer  did  not  always  know  it,  was  the  progressive 
tendency.  It  represents  Abraham  as  looking  for- 
ward not  only  to  its  day,  but  to  a  day  beyond  it. 


CANONICITY  OF  ESTHEE.  99 

It  was  tlie  Hebrew  spirit  which  wove  the  net 
of  circumstances  and  sentiments  and  motives  of 
various  kinds,  whose  meshes  caught  and  held  the 
books  which  were  fitted  to  become  integral  parts 
of  a  literature  with  the  Hebrew  aim,  and  let  the 
rest  fall  through.  The  men  who  were  consciously 
engaged  in  fixing  the  canon,  if  any  such  men 
ever  existed,^  were  but  the  secretaries  of  the 
spiritual  powers  of  their  age ;  and  while  they 
obeyed,  they  did  not  understand  the  larger  influ- 
ences which  swayed  them.  They  chose  the  books 
which  spiritual  causes,  operating  directly  or  in- 
directly, had  already  fixed  upon ;  and  they  gave 
such  reasons  for  their  choice  as  they  were  able  to 
devise.  As  a  consequence,  there  is  no  book  in  the 
canon  which  cannot  be  shown  to  have  some  place 
in  a  vital  literary  organism,  whose  life  is  the 
Hebrew  spirit  itself. 

The  canonicity  of  the  book  of  Esther  is  a  case 
in  point.  It  is  an  anonymous  book  of  unknown 
date,  of  no  historical  authority,  with  a  canonicity 
low  tone  of  morality  and  no  religion ;  °^  Esther. 
and  for  this  reason  its  canonicity  has  been  in  dis- 
pute. Yet  it  has  not  been  dislodged,  for  the 
reason  that  it  has  a  real  and  close  relationship  to 

^  That  such  a  body  as  the  Great  Synagogue  of  tradition  ever 
existed  is  of  course  no  longer  believed.  Yet  the  error  in  the 
tradition  was  due  chiefly  to  a  lack  of  imagination  and  perspec- 
tive. A  spiritual  selective  power  did  begin  to  act  with  Ezra,  and 
continue  to  exercise  for  centuries  functions  analogous  to  those 
attributed  to  the  Great  Synagogue 


100  CANONICITY  OF  ESTHER. 

the  work  which  that  literature  had  to  do  at  that 
time.  Whether  it  is  based  upon  a  real  event  or 
is  a  pm^e  romance,  it  is  the  literary  embodiment 
of  that  peculiar  form  of  national  self-assertion 
which  was  characteristic  of  the  Jews,  and  which 
rose  to  the  emergency  when  it  met  the  rich  and 
brilliant  and  aggressive  Persian  civilization,  and, 
gathering  about  it  the  mantle  of  national  pride 
and  self-sufficiency,  came  out  of  its  tribulations 
with  a  more  perfectly  developed  and  indestructible 
national  selfhood  than  it  possessed  when  it  went 
in.  The  national  spirit  of  the  Jew  was  not  with- 
out serious  blemish,  as  the  story  of  Esther  betrays. 
But  that  he  continued  a  nation  at  all,  and  was 
able  to  thrive  on  adversity  and  to  grow  stronger 
in  the  presence  of  his  conquerors,  is  due  to  the 
fact  that  the  old  Hebrew  spirit  had  something  to 
do  with  it.  Take  away  from  Jewish  history  what 
it  owes  to  its  triumphant  encounter  with  Persia, 
and  you  have  so  far  impaired  it  that  it  is  a  ques- 
tion whether  it  can  live  on  to  its  culmination. 
And  take  away  from  Jewish  literature  the  book 
of  Esther,  and  with  it  the  institution  called  the 
feast  of  Purim,  for  which  it  undertakes  to  account, 
and  it  is  doubtful  whether  the  memory  of  that 
contest  with  Persia  would  have  been  invigorating 
rather  than  debilitating.  The  Jewish  attitude 
toward  Persia  and  what  Persia  represented  was 
an  imperfect  one,  as  the  Jewish  divorce  laws  were 
imperfect;  but   that  both  were   not  worse,   and 


JOB.  101 

that  they  opened  the  way  to  something  better, 
was  owing  to  the  corrective  power  of  the  Hebrew 
spirit;  and  the  same  spirit  kept  Esther  in  the 
canon  during  the  time  when  the  Hebrew  literature 
was  doing  its  most  distinctive  work.^ 

As  one  of  the  partial  and  narrower  forms  of 
the  Hebrew  spirit  is  seen  in  the  imperfect  book 
of  Esther,  another  widely  different  form 
is  seen  in  the  very  different  yet  still 
imperfect  book  of  Job.  If  the  author  of  Job 
was  a  Hebrew,  he  concealed  the  outward  marks 
of  it  with  great  success.  The  scenes  and  the 
characters  are  not  Hebrew;  the  name  for  the 
Supreme  Being  is  not  the  Hebrew  national  name, 
and  references  to  Hebrew  history  are  so  wholly 
excluded  that  it  was  once  supposed  to  have  been 
written  before  that  history  began.  As  Esther 
belongs  to  the  canon  because  of  its  specific  con- 
crete and  narrow  Jewish  history,  Job  is  there  for 
the  opposite  reason  of  its  broad  and  universalistic 
ideas.  But  that  also  belonged  of  right  to  the 
Hebrew  and  Jewish  spirit.  The  Jew  was  both 
intensely  national  and  broadly  cosmopolitan.  He 
must  work  out  his  destiny  through  a  narrow 
intensity,  to  the  service  of  which  even  the  cruel 
and  vindictive  temper  of  Esther  was  not  wholly 
amiss.  He  must  also  be  overshadowed  and  over- 
ruled by  a  large  and  strong  or  sweet  and  generous 

^  Driver,  Introduction  to  Literature  of  Old  Testament,  pp.  449- 
457. 


102  THE  CANTICLES. 

universalism  such  as  breathes  in  Job  or  Jonah. 
The  genuine  Hebrew  spirit  was  not  an  exclusively 
religious  or  philosophical  spirit.  It  was  a  spirit 
of  life,  to  which  nothing  real,  nothing  ideal, 
nothing  human  or  natural  is  foreign,  or  is  to  be 
called  common  or  unclean ;  and  so  while  it  chose 
Job  for  its  idealism,  it  chose  Esther  and  Ruth 
for  their  realism. 

Thus  the  national  spirit  held  on  to  Esther,  and 
the  cosmopolitan  to  Job.  The  domestic  spirit  was 
The  canti-  ^^^^  Hcbrcw,  and  was  elevating  and  en- 
^^^^-  nobling  and  sanctifying  those  tender  and 

fundamental  relationships  which  lie  at  the  basis  of 
the  family ;  lifting  them  out  of  the  hardness  and 
lust  of  the  old  civilizations,  guarding  them  from 
hollowness  on  the  one  hand,  and  licentiousness  on 
the  other,  and  false  asceticism  on  still  another,  and 
bringing  into  actual  existence  the  ideal  Jewish 
family.  This  spirit  overruled  all  mistaken  objec- 
tions, and  preserved  the  tender  and  wholly  non- 
religious  idyl  known  as  the  "  Song  of  Songs."  ^ 

Such  illustrations  of  the  operation  of  the  spirit 
Spiritual  ^^  fixing  what  literature  shall  be  ranked 
judgment,  ^g  g^cred  are  drawn  from  the  doubtful 
cases,  because  in  these  cases  the  spirit,  acting  as 

1  "  A  people  who  loved  such  songs  celebrating  an  invincible  love, 

—  passionate,  indeed,  to  the  last  degree,  but  perfectly  innocent, 

—  such  a  people  cannot  have  been  a  prey  to  moral  corruption." 
"  However  much  there  was  to  blame  in  the  people,  it  was  sound 
at  heart,  nor  coidd  any  trace  be  found  of  fatal  inward  corrup- 
tion."    Bible  for  Learners,  vol.  ii.,  p.  23G. 


THE  LOGOS.  103 

it  were  with  an  effort,  can  be  more  readily  observed. 
The  books  that  are  unquestionably  in  the  canon 
are  unquestionably  saturated  by  the  Hebrew  spirit, 
while  those  that  are  clearly  outside  of  it  are  visibly 
wanting  in  the  spirit.  Of  the  so-called  "  wisdom 
literature,"  some  found  place  in  the  canon  and 
some  did  not,  and  a  merely  cursory  examination 
makes  it  evident  that  what  did  so  find  place  was 
that  in  which  the  alien  elements  were  most  thor- 
oughly dominated  by  the  Hebrew  spirit.  The  late 
apocalyptic  writings  were  for  the  most  part  unwor- 
thy of  that  spirit,  and  were  rejected.  Some,  like  the 
book  of  Daniel,  rose  above  the  rest  in  this  respect, 
and  were  admitted.  In  making  up  this  canon,  there 
was  a  continuous  spiritual  transaction  somewhat 
like  a  literary  day  of  judgment.  Many  books 
stood  outside  and  said,  "  Lord,  Lord,  have  we  not 
prophesied  in  thy  name,  and  in  thy  name  related 
many  marvelous  things  ?  "  And  the  Hebrew  spirit 
answered  and  said,  "Depart  from  me,  I  never 
knew  you.  Ye  are  alien  to  my  spirit,"  while  it 
admitted  into  the  sacred  number  several  wonder- 
fully human  ones  which  are  quite  non-religious  and 
do  not  contain  the  name  of  God. 

A  more  important  observation  concerning  the 
sacred  writings  of   the  Hebrew  spirit  is  that  on 
the   whole   not   only  do   they  show  the 
effects  of  the  action  of  that  spirit,  but 
they  have  had  imparted  to  them  a  spiritual  energy, 
so  that  they  constitute  a  body  of  highly  dynamical 


104  THE  FINAL  MUSTER. 

literature.^  The  spirit  which  produced  and  selected 
them  —  acting  as  a  religious,  a  national,  an  ethi- 
cal, a  philosophical,  a  heroic,  a  social,  a  family,  and 
finally  as  a  literary  and  critical  spirit  —  not  only 
produced  and  selected  them,  but  entered  into  and 
possessed  and  acted  through  them,  making  them 
its  most  effective  agents  for  the  mastery  of  the 
future.  The  Scripture,  therefore,  embodied  the 
Hebrew  mind,  was  the  Hebrew  nerve  structure,  its 
word,  or  Logos.^  The  Hebrew  spirit  and  the  He- 
brew Scripture  henceforth  wrought  together,  "  the 
Spirit  and  the  Word,"  as  the  chief  creative  factors 
in  the  later  Jewish  history. 

We  may  now  observe  how  the  Hebrew  spirit 
marshaled  all  its  forces  for  its  final  effort.  This 
The  final  great  muster  could  not  have  been  ob- 
muster.  scrvcd  in  its  true  proportions  had  we  not 
spent  enough  time  in  considering  the  origin  and 
character  of  the  Hebrew  Scriptures  to  make  clear 
how  great  a  share  of  these  forces  were  supplied 
with  literary  equipment.  The  institution  or  resto- 
ration of  the  religious   festivities  at  the  capital, 

1  2  Tim.  iii.  15. 

2  "  There  is  one  word  which  I  should  like  to  see  reintroduced  into 
our  philosophical  phraseology,  and  that  is  'Logos.'  It  meant 
originally  gathering  and  combining,  and  so  became  the  proper 
name  for  all  that  we  call  reason.  But  it  has  the  immense  advan- 
tage of  also  meaning  language,  and  thus  telling  us  that  the  pro- 
cess of  gathering  which  begins  with  sensation,  and  passes  on  to 
perception  and  conception,  reaches  its  full  perfection  only  when 
it  has  become  incarnate  in  the  Logos,  or  Word."  Max  Miiller, 
Science  of  Thought,  vol.  i.,  p.  74. 


THE  FINAL  MUSTER.  105 

which,  as  before  seen,  was  the  work  of  the  spirit, 
served  to  maintain  the  corporate  unity  of  a  nation 
scattered  to  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  The 
development  of  the  synagogue  and  the  revival  of 
the  Sabbath  gave  the  opportunity  to  make  the  sa- 
cred literature  the  possession  of  the  whole  people. 
This  literature  came  to  be  read  and  discussed  in 
every  considerable  city  of  the  world  every  week.^ 
It  is  impossible  to  overestimate  the  importance  of 
these  institutions  in  their  influence  upon  the  Jew- 
ish people,  and  hence  upon  the  world.  There  was 
a  sure  instinct,  born  of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  in  the 
fanaticism  with  which  the  Sabbath  was  maintained ; 
for  without  that  the  Jews  would  certainly  have 
been  reduced  to  the  slave  level  of  an  Asiatic  sub- 
ject race.  It  was  because  of  their  Sabbatarianism 
that  the  thousands  whom  Pompey  sold  into  slavery 
proved  unprofitable  and  were  permitted  to  pur- 
chase freedom.  What  the  lash  of  the  overseer 
could  not  do,  neither  could  the  knout  of  the  tax- 
gatherer  ;  the  Jew  would  keep  his  Sabbath.  When 
the  economic  strain  became  unbearable,  and  the 
nominally  free  peasant  was  actually  a  slave,  let 
out  by  the  year  to  the  publican  who  bid  highest, 
the  Jew  alone  kept  his  manhood,  because  he  kept 
a  seventh  of  his  time  sacred  to  his  higher  life,  and 
spent  it  in  the  worship  of  the  God  most  nobly  con- 
ceived of  any  divinity  ever  worshiped  by  man,  and 
in  the  study  of  that  marvelous  national  literature. 

1  Acts  XV.  21. 


106  THE  GBEAT  CRISIS. 

So  it  could  come  to  pass  that  a  nation  without  a 
political  life,  to  a  great  extent  even  without  the 
occupancy  of  a  soil,  kept  its  unity  and  vigor,  and 
for  several  generations  had  been  the  only  nation 
in  the  world  wherein  all  classes  were  educated, 
and  educated  too  in  a  manner  most  effective  and 
unique,  in  anticipation  of  and  in  preparation  for 
a  final  fulfillment  of  the  aim  of  the  national  spirit. 
In  the  mean  time  the  world  was  approaching  a 
crisis.  Organic  processes  had  so  far  fulfilled  them- 
The  great  sclvcs  in  the  ccutrcs  of  history  which  were 
crisis.  grouped  about  the  Mediterranean  as  to 

produce  a  general  feeling  that  a  cycle  was  drawing 
to  a  close,  and  that  the  conditions  were  such  that 
a  slisfht  cause  mio^ht  determine  the  character  of  the 
future;  that  the  future  might,  or  even  probably 
would,  hinge  upon  one  man.  The  immediate  occa- 
sion, perhaps,  of  this  crisis  was  the  fact  that  war 
could  continue  no  longer  to  play  the  part  in  his- 
tory which  it  had  played  hitherto.  War  had  been 
the  normal  social  state,  and  peace  but  a  secondary 
one,  a  preparation  for  war.  Civilization  had  been 
of  the  militant  type.  Idealists  had  dreamed  of 
something  better,  but  they  had  been  put  down  as 
dreamers.  The  kingdoms  of  this  world  had  been 
definable  as  those  whose  "  servants  fight."  ^  One 
of  these  having  made  universal  conquest,  the  only 
possible  wars  grew  out  of  civil  dissensions  or  barba- 
rian inroads,  neither  of  which  could  be  good  schools 

1  John  xviii.  36. 


ISRAEL   THE  RESCUE.  107 

of  even  military  virtues.  The  genius  for  conquest 
did  not  involve  genius  for  permanent,  peaceful 
administration.  The  Caesar  as  a  prince  of  peace 
was  an  ignominious  failure.  The  Roman  was  not 
weeping  because  there  were  no  more  worlds  to 
conquer;  he  was  rotting.  All  men  felt  that  his 
decline  had  begun,  and  that  his  fall  was  certain. 
And  that  fall  would  drown  Western  civilization 
in  a  deluge  of  barbarism,  which  would  become  in- 
fected with  its  vices,  but  would  not  be  endowed 
with  its  virtues.  What  history  now  plainly  reveals 
haunted  the  foreboding  heart  of  that  age,  or  pro- 
voked the  visions  of  seers,  —  that  a  supreme  crisis 
was  impending. 

Where  now  could  a  power  be  found  to  take  the 
helm  and  guide  history  in  safety  through  this 
crisis?  Far  to  the  east  slumbers  the  israeithe 
land  of  Confucius.  But  Confucianism  ^«^<^"«- 
is  a  flowerless  plant,  and  is  running  itself  out. 
From  it  no  fertile  seed  will  be  wafted  to  the  West. 
The  lethal  gospel  of  the  Buddha  awakens  no 
*^esponse  in  the  ozone-breathing  Occident.  Greece 
had  given  birth,  sporadically,  to  Socrates;  but 
his  name  is  barren,  being  alone.  Greece  had  not 
herself  had  the  moral  vigor  to  preserve  her  own 
life.  Home's  hope,  when  realized,  proved  to  be 
insufficient.  Every  jDromise  had  withered  or 
aborted,  —  except  one  thing.  The  Hebrew  spirit, 
sensitive  as  it  always  had  been  not  only  to  inter- 
nal  but  to   external  impulses,  had  been  making 


108  PREPARATION. 

preparations  for  jiist  this  crisis.^  A  political  non- 
entity, Israel  is,  because  of  this  spirit  and  what 
it  has  done  for  her,  a  power  of  the  first  class. 
She  alone  has  carried  over  the  truest  ideals  of 
prehistoric  times.  She  borrowed  all  that  was 
worth  keeping  of  Egyptian  civilization.  She 
drained  Babylon  and  Persia  of  their  best.  She 
alone  knows  how  to  .  get  the  meat  without  the 
poison  out  of  Greek  culture.  She,  if  any  one, 
is  fitted  to  solve  the  problem  of  the  world's  fu- 
ture. 

Now  Israel  had  never  yet  failed  to  meet  in 
some  way  of  her  own  the  requirements  of  a 
supreme  hour ;  and  a  history  of  the  ex- 
igencies through  which  she  had  come 
would  show  that  it  was  the  Hebrew  spirit  which, 
in  manifold  ways,  had  brought  about  the  inven- 
tions or  adjustments  necessary  to  meet  them. 
What  seemingly  arbitrary  interventions  occurred 
would  be  discovered  to  be  such  accidents  and 
coincidents  as  are  common  to  all  nations.  The 
specifically  Hebrew  mark  is  readiness  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  these  accidents,  so  that  to  those  to 
whom  spiritual  causes  are  invisible  they  appear 
like  interventions.     Investigation  would  show  that 

1  "  Hopes  which  formerly  were  confined  to  the  soil  of  Judea 
.  .  .  this  time  set  the  world  in  motion.  For  these  hopes  now 
coincided  with  a  widely  spread  and  energetic  feeling,  one  that  at 
that  epoch  thoroughly  penetrated  all  nations  alike,  —  the  feeling 
that  the  present  state  of  the  world  was  absolutely  untenable." 
Hausrath,  New  Testament  Times,  vol.  ii.,  p.  94. 


MESSIANIC  EXPECTATION.  109 

the  same  causes  which  have  been  preparing  this 
workl-wide  crisis  have  been  stimulating  the  He- 
brew spirit  to  the  preparation  for  meeting  it.  For 
the  spirit,  with  its  cosmopolitanism,  has  kept  the 
nation  in  organic  relations  with  the  historical 
movements  of  the  times.  If  it  appeared  to  even 
a  non-Hebrew  observer  like  Virgil  ^  that  the  crisis 
was  such  as  to  demand  a  supreme  hero,  still  more 
likely  would  it  be  that  the  Hebrew  spirit,  which 
had  always  carried  its  point  in  the  face  of  emer- 
gencies by  concentrating  itself  in  some  individual, 
would  now  be  getting  ready  to  meet  this  supreme 
crisis  by  that  supreme  expedient. 

Accordingly,  we  discover  that  that  widely  dif- 
fused expectation  of  a  hero  was  not  a  circum- 
stance compared  with  the  intense  expec-  Messianic 
tation  which  was  beginning  to  bring  the  ^^pectation. 
Jewish  mind  into  a  state  of  alertness.  It  is  not 
necessary  to  suppose  that  the  outside  hope  was 
borrowed  from  Judaism.  The  better  explanation 
is  that  the  Jewish  hope  was  founded  upon  an 
especially  acute  perception  of  the  necessity  of  the 
case,  which  had  come  to  the  Hebrew  mind  centu- 
ries before,  and  had  now,  therefore,  the  cumulative 
force  of  both  tradition  and  perception.  What 
had  long  been  known  to  the  Jew  was  now  becom- 
ing apparent  to  the  rest  of  the  world.  It  was 
because  the  Hebrew  spirit  was  more  than  Hebrew, 
because  it  was  a  universal  spirit,  that  it  discovered 

^  Eclog.  iv. 


110  THE  FULLNESS  OF  TIME. 

in  advance  the  thing  which  would  one  day  be  uni- 
versally seen,  namely,  the  need  of  a  Messiah.^ 

What  is  of  more  importance  than  the  expecta- 
tion of  the  Messiah  in  the  Jewish  nation  at  this 
The  fullness  ^^^^^  IS  the  rcadiucss  of  that  nation  to 
of  time.  produce  the  Messiah.  For  while  as  an 
individual  that  personage  must  possess  a  certain 
element  of  originality  and  unaccountability,  yet 
as  fulfilling  the  demands  of  the  age,  and  bringing 
to  its  culmination  the  long  course  of  Hebrew 
history,  he  must,  in  another  large  sense,  be  born 
out  of  the  fullness  of  that  history.  The  expecta- 
tion of  the  Messiah  was  not  only  the  manifestation 
of  a  sense  of  need,  the  advertisement  of  a  want ; 
it  was  the  expression  of  a  semi-conscious  fitness 
to  produce  him,  a  sensation  of  fullness,  of  preg- 
nancy.2     The  previous  history  of  Israel  would  bid 

1  The  law  of  parsimony  would  indeed  suggest  the  likelihood 
that  if  that  expectation  is  found  elsewhere  it  is  to  be  accounted 
for  by  the  transmission  from  the  Hebrew  rather  than  by  inde- 
pendent discovery.  But  other  considerations  would  point  the 
other  way,  and  if  we  attempted  to  base  the  speculations  of  Virgil 
upon  Isaiah,  we  could  not  but  inquire  also  concerning  Plato's 
indebtedness,  which  would  lead  us  farther  afield  than  our  topic 
permits  at  this  point. 

2  "  A  peculiar  atmosphere  had  gathered.  .  .  .  There  was  a  con- 
fidence in  this  expectation  which  was  very  near  akin  to  an  at- 
tempt to  accomplish  it."  "  Moreover,  a  history  of  a  thousand 
years  had  educated  the  people  for  this  faith.  It  was  the  result 
of  the  whole  previous  development,  and  now  there  remained  but 
this  choice,  either  to  give  up  the  convictions  of  their  fathers,  or 
else  courageously  to  hope  that  now,  even  at  the  eleventh  hour, 
the  promises  would  be  fulfilled  which  had  been  held  out  to  the 


THE  FULLNESS  OF  TIME.  Ill 

US  look  beyond  the  barrenness  and  sterility  of 
official  Judaism,  to  find  the  readiness  for  the 
coming  event  in  some  small  nucleus.  The  pro- 
phets had  long  learned  this  secret,  and  in  the 
midst  of  general  and  official  apostasy  had  clung 
to  their  faith  in  the  existence  of  a  "  remnant," 
though  invisible.  When  Elijah  was  tempted  to 
think  he  was  alone  in  holding  to  the  tradition  and 
the  hope,  he  was  rebuked  by  the  spirit,  which 
affirmed  that  thousands  were  still  loyal.^  Isaiah 
cherished  the  thought  of  a  vital  remnant.^  Many 
a  time  in  the  past  would  the  historian  of  externals 
have  declared  that  the  Hebrew  spirit  had  let  go 
its  hold  upon  the  nation.  If  Josephus  were  to  be 
trusted,  the  Israel  of  his  day  had  lost  its  messianic 
potentiality,  giving  way  to  dilettante  indifferent- 
ism  on  one  hand,  and  ignorant  fanaticism  on  the 
other.  But  he  has  read  the  prophets  to  no  pur- 
pose who  is  misled  by  Josephus'  picture  of  the 
barrenness  of  his  age.  He  told  what  he  knew, 
perhaps ;  but  he  was  as  blind  to  the  life  and  ex- 
pectation hidden  under  the  surface  as  he  was  to 
the  spiritual  force  embodied  in  the  despised  sect 
which  has  since  created  Christendom. 

people  since  the  time  of  Joel."  "The  mould  had  long  before 
been  formed  in  which  he,  the  greatest  of  his  people,  had  to  be 
cast ;  and  that  one  did  come  who  gave  contents  to  this  form  is 
a  sacred  sign  that  that  which  the  people  had  been  so  long  bear- 
ing in  their  hearts,  as  their  beloved  and  best,  was  never  merely 
a  phantom  of  the  imagination."  Hausrath,  New  Testament  Times, 
vol.  i.,  pp.  201,  203,  204. 

1  1  Kings  xix.  18.  2  isa.  i.  9. 


112  THE  BEMNANT. 

Were  tliere  no  direct  proof  of  it,  the  existence 
of  a  remnant  endowed  with  the  potency  of  the 
The  Rem-  Hcbrcw  Spirit  might  be  fairly  suspected 
nant.  from  the  circumstances  of  the  case.     It 

would  be  hard  to  believe  that  every  man,  woman, 
and  child  of  a  whole  nation  could  have  been,  for 
some  generations,  familiar  with  the  Pentateuch, 
the  Prophets,  and  the  best  of  the  Psalms,  and 
be  as  dead  all  through  as  Jewish  life  was  on  the 
surface.  Given  the  Scriptures,  the  synagogue, 
and  the  Sabbath,  and  one  may  almost  affirm  such 
a  remnant,  saying,  with  the  prophet,  that  such 
divine  word  could  not  return  void,  but  must 
prosper  in  the  thing  whereunto  it  was  sent. 

The  existence  and  character  of  such  a  remnant, 
moreover,  is  to  be  known  by  what  came  out  of  it. 
Jesus  has  not  the  stamp  of  an  article  of  magic 
manufacture.  He  is  original;  but  he  is  also 
equally  a  growth  and  an  outgrowth.  Like  most 
great  men,  he  was  markedly  a  mother's  son.  A 
mother  means  a  home  ;  and  since  homes,  like  flow- 
ers, flourish  only  by  cross-fertilization,  one  home 
means  others  of  much  the  same  species ;  and  this 
means  a  set  of  common  motives  and  ideas,  a  social, 
moral,  and  religious  environment.  Jesus  and  his 
work  undeniably  came  out  of  a  more  or  less  suit- 
able and  specific  environment.  This  specific  envi- 
ronment may  be  called  the  "  messianic  remnant." 

Concerning  this  remnant,  however,  not  only  is 
there  indirect  evidence,  but  abundant  and  irref  uta- 


PROOF  OF  IT.  113 

ble  direct  proof  lias  been  preserved  by  one  of  the 
biographers  of  Jesus. ^  The  first  two 
chaj^ters  of  Luke's  Gospel  have  imbedded 
in  their  narratives  —  of  whose  historicity  it  is  not 
necessary  here  to  inquire  —  certain  songs  which 
bear  internal  evidence  of  having  belonged  to  a  pre- 
Christian  circle  which  preserved  the  Hebrew  spirit 
in  its  best  form,  and  looked  with  an  intense  and 
significant  longing  for  the  coming  of  the  promised 
one.  Luke's  narrative  is  undoubtedly  founded 
upon  some  Hebraic  or  Aramaic  source,  and  has  a 
verisimilitude  in  its  fitness  to  the  poems  which 
could  not  have  been  invented  by  Christian  minds. 
These  songs  manifestly  took  their  final  shape  be- 
fore the  time  of  the  personal  activity  of  John  and 
Jesus.  They  constitute  a  small  but  sufficient  col- 
lection of  the  folk-lore  of  the  remnant  which  gave 
birth  to  those  two  men.  They  afford  data  for  de- 
termining with  much  exactitude  the  precise  con- 
ditions which  held  in  that  inner  circle  where  the 
necrosis  of  legalism  and  rabbinism  had  not  pene- 
trated, and  where  the  Hebrew  spirit  as  embodied 
in  the  sacred  writings  was  having  its  free  course. 

These   songs,  which   constitute   material   for  a 
knowledge  of  the  immediate  environment   out  of 

1  "  More  especially  in  the  introduction  to  the  Gospel  of  Luke, 
the  fig'ures  of  whicli  are  genuine  representations  of  those  to  whom 
at  this  time  .  .  .  the  promise  of  the  Messiah  had  been  made  by 
the  Holy  Ghost,  .  .  .  does  a  breath  reach  us  of  that  spirit  which 
inspired  every  Jewish  household."  Hausrath,  New  Testament 
Times,  vol.  i.,  p.  201. 


114       FOLK-LOBE  OF  THE  ''REMNANT:'' 

which  John  and  Jesus  came,  are  the  "Magnifi- 
cat," 1  the  "  Benedictus,"  2  the  "  Gloria 
the  "Rem-  in  Excclsis,"  ^  and  the  "Nunc  Dimit- 
tis."*  These  are  clearly  pre-Christian, 
yet  not  very  ancient.  They  belong  to  somewhere 
about  the  time  to  which  the  evangelist  assigns  them. 
Both  in  wording  and  in  conception  they  are  re- 
markably Scriptural.  They  are  broad,  covering 
practically  the  whole  of  Scripture,  while  they  are 
richest  in  the  prophetic  parts  which  were  largely 
ignored  by  the  scribes,  and  denied  altogether  by 
the  Sadducees.  Of  the  later  rabbinism  they  show 
no  trace.  Both  in  tone  and  idea  they  fairly  repre- 
sent the  spirit  of  Hebrew  history  and  literature. 
They  seem  to  be  part  of  a  psalmody,  and  have 
been  so  used  by  the  Christian  church.  Yet  they 
were  not  sung  in  the  synagogues.  Their  existence 
would  appear  to  show  that  among  the  scattered 
rejjresentatives  of  those  who  cherished  the  messi- 
anic hope  in  its  purity  there  was  some  kind  of 
freemasonry,  and  that  perhaps  they  met  in  private 
conventicles  to  cherish  their  more  spiritual  faith, 
away  from  the  chill  of  officialism  which  had  settled 
over  even  the  synagogues  in  all  considerable  places. 
Hints  of  such  meetings  are  found  as  early  as 
Malachi,^  and  probably  these  private  groups  rather 
than  the  more  formal  synagogue  may  have  given 
the  model  for  the  early  Christian  gathering. 

1  Luke  i.  46-55.  2  jj/^.  j.  68-79.  »  Ihid.  ii.  14. 

*  Ibid.  ii.  29-32.  5  Mai.  iii.  16. 


CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  ''  BEMNANT:'       115 

The  purely  spiritual  tone  of  this  remnant  would 
save  it  from  becoming  sectarian.  Its  members 
would  keep  up  the  external  "  means  of  grace,"  and 
estimate  them  for  what  they  were  worth,  and  they 
were  worth  much.  Some  frequented  the  temple,^ 
some  the  synagogue.  Some  continued  to  exercise 
the  priestly  functions.^  Some,  like  John,  held 
relations,  or  halfway  relations,  with  the  Essene 
circle.  The  spirit  of  this  circle  did  not  necessarily 
lead  to  any  break  with  the  manifold  external  ex- 
pressions of  Jewish  life.  It  was  not  hostile  to 
them,  only  more  vital.  These  four  songs  alone, 
not  to  speak  of  the  probability  that  they  are  only 
specimens,  were  enough,  serving  as  cradle  songs  or 
hymns  for  social  neighborhood  meetings,  to  have 
created  a  set  of  conditions  eminently  fitted  to  give 
birth  to  such  men  as  the  Baptist  and  Jesus.  And 
nothing  is  more  clear  than  that  they  were  caused  by 
the  specific  and  timely  action  of  the  Hebrew  sj)irit. 

This  remnant  doubtless  embraced  the  choicest 
souls   of  the   nation,^  who  were,  as  the  tenderly 
beautifid  expression  is,  "  waiting  for  the  catholicity 
consolation  of  Israel."  ^     They  were  of  ur^^. 
every  class,  from  shepherds  and  journej^-  "^"'•" 
man  mechanics  to  men  and  women  of  culture  and 

1  Luke  ii.  25-27,  36,  37. 

2  Ibid.  i.  5.  3  jiid,  ii.  25. 

^  "  There  is  reason  to  believe  that  beside  the  Saddueean  aristo- 
crats and  the  Pharisaic  scribes  and  the  extensive  classes  of  people 
whom  they  spiritually  influenced,  and  besides  the  worid-renoun- 
cing  Essenes,  there  was  at  that  time  another  circle  among-  the  Jew- 


116      CATHOLICITY  OF  THE  '' REMNANT:' 

breadth  of  vision,  like  Simeon  and  Anna ;  and  tliere 
is  truth-likeness    in  the  story  of  the  first  Gospel 
that  the  interest  of  foreign  sages  was  enlisted  in 
this  expected  advent.^      What  sage  of   that   day 
who  knew  Isaiah  and  the  Psalms  could  help  dream» 
ing  at  least  of  a  Messiah  out  of  Israel  ?     The  same 
spirit   which   had    produced   and    preserved   this 
expectation  in  Israel,  and   had  drawn  thousands 
of  proselytes  to  external  Judaism,  would  tend  to 
gather  into  the  fold  of  the  secret  remnant   choice 
souls  from  without,  spiritual  descendants  of  those 
waiters  for  salvation  who  from  prehistoric  times 
had  kept   open   lines  of   communication  with   the 
messianic  nation.     Thus  while  the   circumstances 
of  the   time  had   driven  the    Hebrew  spirit   from 
publicity  to   privacy,  it   had   there   organized  the 
nation's  life  energies,  which,  under  the  supremest 
tension,  were  travailing  to  bring  forth  nothing  less 
than  the  final  fruit  of  the  spirit  in  a  messianic  per- 
sonage.    So  the  Hebrew  spirit,  the  specific  energy 
of  Hebrew  history,  was  preparing  to  enter  a  career 
as  a  world  force. 

isli  people  whose  hearts  were  the  abode  of  pious  gratitude  and 
trust,  and  of  sincere  obedience  to  the  duties  of  faithfulness  and 
love,  nourished  by  a  simple  and  upright  searching  of  the  Scrip- 
tures. Joseph  and  Mary  were  doubtless  among  this  number." 
Wendt,  Teaching  of  Jesus,  vol.  i.,  p.  93. 
1  Matt.  ii.  1-10. 


IV. 

Upon  each  member  of  the  "  messianic  rem- 
nant," that  inner  circle  where  were  being  con- 
veraed   the   life   forces  of   the   Hebrew 

.    .  .  The  spirit 

race,   the    Hebrew    spirit   was   able    to  and  Hebrew 

.  .  womanhood. 

bring  its  power  to  bear,  m  conspiracy 
with  personal  or  other  idiosyncrasies.  Particu- 
larly were  the  circumstances  such  as  to  bring  the 
specific  energy  of  this  spirit  to  operate  with  pecul- 
iar force  upon  the  spirit  of  Jewish  womanhood. 
For  centuries,  in  Israel,  all  the  life  energies  of 
the  sex  most  sensitive  to  ideal  and  emotional 
influence  had  been  concentrating  themselves, 
under  the  dominance  of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  upon 
one  ambition,  —  to  be  the  mother  or  ancestress  of 
the  Messiah.  Every  other  feminine  instinct  had 
been  so  directed  as  to  minister  to  this  craving. 
The  joys  of  wedded  love  were  forgotten  or  swal- 
lowed up  in  the  hopes  and  possibilities  of  mother- 
hood, because  of  what  motherhood  might  mean 
in  the  fulfillment  of  the  prophecy.  The  roman- 
cer's picture  of  the  development  of  the  maternal 
instinct  in  a  mythical  century  yet  to  come  ^  is 
trivial  compared  with  the  actual  facts  of  Jewish 

1  Bellamy,  Looking  Backward. 


118  THE  MOTHER   OF  JESUS. 

■womanboocl  in  tlie  circles  where  the  Hebrew  spirit 
was  having  its  perfect  work  in  the  development 
of  the  messianic  hope.  If  ever  a  class  of  persons 
lived  among  whom  general  causes  might  ally 
themselves  with  individual  peculiarities  to  produce 
effects  out  of  the  range  of  ordinary  probability^ 
these  Jewish  women  were  such  a  class. 

The  stimulus  of  the  Hebrew  spirit  had  made 
the  history  prolific  in  strong  individualities  ;  so 
The  mother  ^^^^  t^®  range  of  variation  was  great 
of  Jesus.  among  the  members  of  the  nation  at 
large,  and  would  naturally  be  greater  among  the 
members  of  the  messianic  remnant.  This  rem- 
nant gave  birth  to  the  most  extraordinary  man  the 
world  has  known.  Since  it  is  almost  a  law  that 
the  mothers  of  remarkable  men  should  be  remark- 
able, the  presumption  is  that  the  mother  of  Jesus 
was  a  woman  of  no  ordinary  endowments.  Now 
if  it  be  true,  as  it  admittedly  is,  that  the  thing 
her  son  has  done  for  the  world  is  to  bring  to  its 
culmination  the  work  of  the  Hebrew  sj^irit,  and, 
by  identifying  it  with  his  own,  to  send  it  forth 
as  a  world  force,  a  presumption  arises  that  that 
which  was  extraordinary  about  this  woman  had 
something  to  do  with  a  peculiar  responsiveness, 
in  her  woman's  way,  —  m  her  woman^8  way^  —  to 
the  specific  activities  of  that  spirit.  The  Hebrew 
spirit  was  that  of  the  Hebrew  religion  as  well  as 
of  the  Hebrew  nation  and  history  and  literature. 
It  was  therefore  the   spirit  of  the  Hebrew  God, 


STOIiY  OF  HIS  BIRTH.  119 

of  Jehovah.  To  the  woman's  nature,  always  reli- 
giously inclined,  that  spirit  would  stand  less  for 
the  specific  energy  of  the  national  life  than  for 
that  of  the  national  God  :  it  would  be  the  spirit 
of  Jehovah,  the  divine  or  holy  spirit.  The  pre- 
sumption, therefore,  is  strong  not  only  that  the 
Hebrew  spirit,  but  that  that  spirit  in  its  religious 
form,  as  the  spirit  of  the  Hebrew  God,  played 
some  important  part  in  the  ante-natal  history  of 
Jesus. 

In  whatever  manner  the  narratives  of  the  first 
and  second  evangelists  may  have  originated,  they 
form  altogether  an  absolutely  consistent  story  of  his 
story  of  perfect  beauty  and  delicacy,  in  ^^'^^^• 
which  no  flaw  can  be  found,  —  except  the  incred- 
ibility of  the  main  allegation.  Nothing  is  want- 
ing, nothing  is  redundant,  nothing  is  out  of  place. 
Even  the  silence  of  Jesus  concerning  it  adds  to 
its  consistency.  The  neglect  of  the  synoptists  to 
adjust  other  parts  of  their  material  to  it  is  in 
its  favor.  The  failure  of  the  theologians,  Paul 
and  John,  to  make  use  of  it  after  the  manner  of 
modern  theologians  allays  suspicion  of  dogmatic 
interest.  Psychological  criticism  explains  away 
certain  parts  of  it,  but  in  so  doing  it  brings  out 
most  strikingly  the  psychological  truth-likeness  of 
the  whole.  It  would  be  easy  to  account  for,  as  it 
would  be  easy  to  disprove,  a  vulgar  myth.  But  if 
this  is  a  myth  it  is  no  vulgar  one ;  and  the  diffi- 
culty of  accounting  for  the  unapproachable  purity 


120  STOBY  OF  HIS  BIRTH. 

and  delicacy,  and,  in  every  respect  but  one,  the 
truth-likeness  of  it,  on  any  other  hypothesis  than 
its  substantial  truthfulness  causes  denial  to  hesi- 
tate even  in  the  face  of  incredibility.  Belief  is 
probably  too  much  to  ask  of  the  mind  which  is 
under  the  sway  of  the  modern  spirit,  at  least  until 
it  be  shown  that  the  verdict  of  physical  science  is 
permissive  of  such  belief ;  concerning  which  it  is 
not  our  pui'pose  here  to  inquire.^  In  view,  how- 
ever, of  the  strange  conflux  of  causes,  never  con- 
fluent before  nor  since,  and  the  marvelous  outflow 
of  effects,  some  may  be  able  without  loss  of  men- 
tal integrity  to  maintain  for  the  present  a  susj^ense 
of  judgment.  It  is  enough  in  this  connection  to 
have  drawn  attention  to  the  fact  that  the  Hebrew 
spirit  in  its  most  specific  form,  as  the  spirit  of  the 
Hebrew  Jehovah,  was  certainly  somehow  a  posi- 
tive element  in  the  proximate  pre-natal  history 
of  Jesus ;  as  it  must  have  presided  also,  with  its 
purity  and  delicacy,  and,  on  the  whole,  sanity,  in 
the  literary  creation  of  the  stories  which  have 
been  preserved  concerning  that  birth.^ 

The  environment  out  of  which  Jesus  was  born 

1  It  is  sufficient  to  remark  here  that  facts  are  beginning  to  be 
disclosed  by  biological  science  which  tend  to  lessen  the  inherent 
incredibility  of  such  an  occurrence  in  such  wholly  exceptional 
circumstances.  The  part  which  the  environment,  acting  as  a 
whole  through  the  agency  of  its  forces,  and  particularly  of  its 
psychic  forces,  may  play  in  biology,  is  something  which  will 
rejiay  further  study. 

^  Weiss,  Life  of  Christ,  Book  II.,  cap.  ii. ;  Keim,  Jesus  of 
Nazara,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  39  ff. 


SUEEOUNDINGS   OF  HIS   CUILDIIOOD.      121 

was  also  tliat  into  which  he  was  born,  and  hence 
he  is  to  be  thought  of  as  growing  up  in 

°  T  •    1  1       Surround- 

the  midst  of  home  and  social  surround-  ings  of  his 

childhood. 

ings  in  which  the  spiritual  tension  was 
high.  The  same  poetical  fragments  which  give 
us  a  glimpse  of  the  messianic  remnant  before  his 
birth  show  us  upon  what  his  young  life  fed. 
Picture  a  household  in  which  the  mysteries  of  life 
are  made  plain,  and  its  commonplaces  transfigured 
in  the  light  which  is  shed  from  those  four  poems 
in  Luke's  Gospel.  Given  the  home  of  a  Jewish 
carpenter,  poor  but  not  pinched,  in  sunny,  flowery, 
free  Galilee,  with  its  synagogues,  its  Sabbath,  its 
Scripture,  its  annual  pilgrimage  to  Jerusalem,  its 
saturation  to  the  point  of  precipitation  with  the 
ideas  and  sentiments  which  these  institutions  have 
been  fostering  for  centuries.  Give  this  family  as 
its  prime  consciousness,  no  matter  how  come  by, 
a  conviction,  perhaps  not  rare  among  pious  house- 
holds in  that  day,  that  it  had  in  its  bosom  him 
who  was  to  fulfill  the  expectation  of  Israel ;  and 
let  this  conviction  find  its  specific  modes  of  con- 
ception in  the  shape  of  this  maternal  song  now 
ascribed  to  Mary,  this  paternal  song  ascribed  to 
Zacharias,  this  heart-song  of  the  shepherds  as- 
cribed to  the  angels,  and  the  sage  words  ascribed 
to  the  aged  Simeon.  Let  the  daily  life  be  lived, 
the  weekly  Sabbath  spent,  the  Scriptures  repeated, 
the  visits  to  Jerusalem  made,  and  all  these  things 
find  their  interpretation,  at  least  to  the  heart  of 


122  THE  HOME  AND   THE  NATION. 

yearning  and  brooding  motlierhood,  in  the  terms 
of  sucli  poems  as  these,  and  what  an  atmosphere 
must  have  been  generated  in  that  home !  The 
very  presence  of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  in  its  most 
religious  and  sacredest  manifestation,  as  "  the 
spirit  of  the  holy  gods,"  ^  of  the  Holy  One  of 
Israel,  the  Holy  Spirit,  must  have  reigned  in  that 
home,  nurturing  the  messianic  character,  and  pre- 
paring a  basis  for  the  messianic  consciousness  of 
Jesus  of  Nazareth. 

From  this  point  it  becomes  difficult  to  avoid  fol- 
lowing the  history  of  Jesus  himseK   rather   than 
that  of  the   spirit.     The    Hebrew   spirit 

The  home  .^.        ,  (,       .,       ,  pi* 

and  the  now  identifies  itseli  with  that  or  his  per- 
sonality, and  when  it  has  again  become 
distinct  it  has  that  indelible  stamp  upon  it.  It  is 
still  possible,  however,  to  trace  the  distinction  at 
points  during  his  life.  It  is  noteworthy  that  the 
only  one  of  the  many  legends  of  the  childhood  of 
Jesus  which  could  hold  its  place  in  the  canonical 
Scriptures  is  the  only  one  that  is  wholly  free  from 
the  marvelous,  as  though  the  fine  instinct  of  early 
Christianity  found  itself  unable  to  tolerate  any- 
thing like  monstrosity  in  a  child.^  It  is  said  that 
at  the  age  of  twelve  the  boy  went  with  his  parents 
to  Jerusalem  to  the  feast.  It  was  one  of  the  many 
wise  Jewish  customs,  dictated  by  the  Hebrew 
spirit,  that  at  that  climacteric  period  when  nature 
demands  a  widening  of  the  boy's  horizon,  when  he 

1  Dan.  iv.  8,  9,  18 ;  v.  11.  ^  L^ke  ii.  40-52. 


THE  NATIONAL  CONSCIOUSNESS.         123 

begins  to  chafe  under  narrow  restraints,  he  was 
treated  to  a  first  visit  to  the  national  capital,  to  a 
great  national  feast ;  and  then,  if  he  had  anything 
in  him,  he  would  at  once  awaken  to  a  larger 
thought,  and  enter  the  current  of  the  larger  na- 
tional life.  No  longer  satisfied  with  the  bounda- 
ries of  home  or  village,  the  broader  horizon  he 
was  longing  for  he  found  in  a  conception  of  the 
nation.  The  national  life  was  at  this  time  repre- 
sented by  conflicting  elements  and  party  ideas.  In 
many  respects,  however,  these  were  a  sign  of 
wealth  rather  than  of  poverty  of  spiritual  and 
social  materials.^  The  boy  who  could  not  embrace 
all  could  serve  his  generation  passably  as  a  party 
man.  The  boy  who  could  get  above  party  could 
form  a  germ  of  a  comprehensive  conception.  The 
necessity  for  and  the  difficulty  in  forming  a  com- 
prehensive conception  of  the  national  idea  had  both 
become  very  great,  and  the  man  who  thought  he 
had  grasped  it  was  tempted  to  believe  himself  the 
Messiah. 

Like  other  thoughtful  boys,  Jesus  at  this  time 
found  the  germ  of  a  national  idea  forming  itseK  in 
him  :  and  since  from  that  grew  the  mes-  „        .     , 

'  ^  .  °  The  national 

sianic  idea  with  which  he  set  out  to  con-  conscious- 

,    .  neas. 

quer  the  world,  the  nature  and  origin  of 
this  germ  is  a  matter  of  much  interest.     The  story 
is  probably  true,  since  it  is  truth-like,  and  at  the 
same  time  unlike  what  would  have  been  invented 
1  Keim,  Jesus  of  Nazara,  vol.  i.,  p.  328. 


124         THE  NATIONAL   CONSCIOUSNESS. 

by  any  one  in  that  age.     It  is  said  that  when  the 
parents  of  Jesus  were  ready  to  return,  he  remained 
behind.     It  was  what  was  to  be  expected  of  a  nor- 
mal boy  in  the  circumstances.     Finding  congenial 
surroundings,  and  conscious  that  he   had  a   true 
place  in  Jerusalem  and  a  true  obligation  thither- 
ward, there  arose  a  conflict  of  claims  between  the 
narrow  life  of  the  home  and  the  broader  one  of  the 
larger  environment.     He  simply  forgot  the  family 
party,  and,  probably   never  before  having  given 
cause  for  anxiety,  he  was  not  missed  for  some  time, 
when  the  parents  sought  him  in  vain,  and  in  dis- 
may returned  to  discover  him  after  some  trouble 
in  one  of  the  temple  schools.     The  boy  must  some 
day  free  himself  from  the  leading-strings  and  live 
his  own  life.     The  mother   must  some  day  learn 
that  the  estate  of  infancy  does  not  continue  for- 
ever, and  begin  to  let  him  have  his  own  way  even 
when  it  is  contrary  to  her  own  judgment.     No  more 
thoroughly  human   relationship   is   anywhere   de- 
picted than  that  of  Jesus  and   his  mother  from 
henceforth.     They  never  quite  agree.     Herself  a 
woman  of  strong  personality,  she  did  not  surrender 
it  during  his  lifetime,  nor  allow  her  faith  in   him 
to  become  more   than  the   loving   allegiance  of  a 
mother  to  a  son  in  whose  character  and  future  she 
persists  in  believing,  though  his  actual  career  only 
dazes  and  confounds  her.     Mary  always  remained 
an  Old  Testament  character.     She  gave  birth  to 
the  Messiah,  but  she  never  understood  him  while 


''MY  FATHER'S  HOUSE:'  125 

he  lived.i  In  answer  to  his  mother's  chiding, 
Jesus  made  his  fii*st  recorded  utterance:  "Wist 
ye  not  that  I  must  be  in  my  Father's  house?" 
"  Did  it  not  occur  to  you  that  I  had  obligations  in 
this  direction  as  well  as  toward  you  ?  "  The  lan- 
guage is  that  of  explanation  and  self-justification. 
He  felt  that  his  range  of  right  and  duties  had 
widened,  that  he  was  no  longer  a  mere  child  whose 
life  was  to  be  limited  by  the  ideas  of  his  parents. 
This  new  and  larger  selfhood  had  to  be  asserted, 
and  the  assertion  was  not  to  his  discredit,  any  more 
than  it  was  to  the  discredit  of  his  mother  that  she 
should  record  a  protest  against  it. 

To  the  Jewish  boy  the  claim  of  the  larger  envi- 
ronment was  that  involved  in  the  awakening  of  the 
national  consciousness.    The  specific  form 

-      .        T  »         •      1  "MyFa- 

which  this  took  m  Jesus    mmd  was   ex-  ther's 


pressed  in  the  term  "  my  Father's  house." 
The  phrase  was  probably  formed  on  the  spur  of  the 
moment  by  way  of  making  an  exculpatory  reply. 
It  was  therefore  an  instinctive  formulation  of  what 
seemed  to  him  to  be  the  chief  aspect  of  that  larger 
world  which  now  opened  before  him.  Like  a  Jew- 
ish child  he  naturally  saw  its  symbol,  and  seemed 
to  himself  to  see  its  reality  in  the  temple  with  its 
ritual  and  its  schools.  That  identification  of  his 
larger  relationships  and  responsibilities  with  the 

1  It  is  far-fetched  to  explain  this  story  and  the  Gospel  charac- 
terizations of  Mary  and  of  her  relations  to  Jesus  by  later  dogmatic 
considerations.    Everything  is  natural  and  consistent. 


126  THE  GERM  THOUGHT. 

temple  was  inevitable  and  most  fortunate ;  for  in 
later  life  it  saved  him,  in  spite  of  liis  revolt  against 
the  established  order,  from  the  fatal  error  of  Essen- 
ism,  separatism.  He  broke  finally  with  the  temple 
only  on  that  day  when  he  crossed  the  valley  of  the 
Kidron,  and,  looking  back,  prophesied  its  destruc- 
tion. Long  before  this  he  had  learned  to  find  his 
Father  in  the  busy  haunts  of  common  men  and  in 
the  lonely  mountains  :  but  there  were  profound 
historical  reasons  why  his  thought  should  cling  to 
the  temple  in  Jerusalem ;  why,  through  the  years 
of  awaiting  his  call  to  active  messianic  work,  his 
eye  should  turn  toward  it ;  why  his  ministry  should 
always  have  had  that  goal  in  ^dew.  Jesus  was  no 
uncoordinated  professor  of  abstract  religion  or 
ethics.  He  was  nothing  if  not  a  part  of  concrete 
history,  fidfilling  in  every  way  the  historical  con- 
tinuities as  they  were  being  wrought  out  under  the 
guidance  of  the  concrete  Hebrew  spirit.^ 

The  temple  idea  in  Jesus'  first  utterance  is  fidly 
accounted  for  by  the  Hebrew  spirit  which  was 
The  germ  cxcrcisiug  its  influencc  upon  the  youth. 
thought.  j3^^  ^jjjg  ^j^g  not  the  vital  germ  of  his 
thought.  That  was  rather  that  of  the  fatherhood 
of  the  God  whose  worship  was  the  crown  of  the 
Jewish  national  system.  Israel  was  a  theocracy. 
Its  national  consciousness  was  religious,  was  a  God- 
consciousness.  But  what  kind  of  a  God-conscious- 
ness? A  Moloch-consciousness,  or  an  Astarte- 
1  Hausrath,  New  Testament  Times,  vol.  ii.,  pp.  156-159. 


ORIGINAL,    YET  NOT  SPORADIC.         12T 

consciousness,  or  a  Jove-consciousness  ?  It  was  a 
Jehovah-consciousness.  But  the  term  "  Jehovah  " 
is  not  descriptive,  appears  to  have  almost  avoided 
being  descriptive.  The  Hebrew  spirit  seems  to 
have  brought  it  about  that  the  conception  of  Jeho- 
vah had  been  partial,  tentative,  nascent,  futuritive. 
It  seems  as  though  the  Hebrew  was  awaiting  the 
Messiah  to  stamp  a  worthy  meaning  upon  his  term 
for  "  God."  If  now  this  boy  was  to  be  the  Mes- 
siah, and  this  was  to  be  the  occasion  when  he 
should  beget  the  germ  of  his  conception  of  Jeho- 
vah, it  was  an  interesting  crisis  in  his  history  and 
in  that  of  the  world.  His  own  life  and  career, 
and  through  him  that  of  the  world,  is  profoundly 
modified  by  the  fact  that  "fatherhood"  struck 
him  as  the  primary  characteristic  of  Jehovah. 

This  thought  of  the  divine  fatherhood  was  Jesus' 
great  stroke  of  originality.  It  was  creative.  From 
that  moment  he  stood  forth  as  the  des-  original,  yet 
tined  redeemer  of  the  world.  Yet  it  -tsporadic. 
would  be  hard  to  point  out  just  where  the  origi- 
nality came  in.  It  woidd  be  unhistorical  to  think 
of  his  using  such  a  term  in  such  a  connection 
unless  the  term  already  had,  from  its  use  in  other 
connections,  a  meaning  like  that  which  he  gave  to 
it.  And  we  learn,  from  its  incidental  uses  through- 
out his  life,  that,  as  indicating  ordinary  home  rela- 
tionships, he  knew  it  in  its  ideal  significance.  It 
is  therefore  to  be  presumed  that  in  his  own  home 
with  Joseph  and  Mary  he  had  known  something 


128    FATHERHOOD  IN   THE  OLD   TESTAMENT. 

of  the  meaning  of  ideal  fatherhood.     If  he  had, 
this  was  a  product  of  the  Hebrew  spirit. 

Equally  impossible  is  it  to  ascribe  to  him  the 
first  use  of  the  term  ''  Father  "  as  a  name  for  God. 

In  every  nation  it  has  been  so  employed. 
hiihfoJd*^    Most  peoples  thought  of   their  national 

god   as  their  natural   progenitor.     This 
often  grew  into  a  notion  of  God  as  holding  a  patri- 
archal or  governmental  relationship  to  the  nation. 
Where  less  spiritual  tendencies  prevailed,  it  also 
gave  rise  to  sensual  notions,  and  often  to  licentious 
practices.     In  the  Hebrew  literature  it  occurs  but 
rarely.^     In  most  of  these  cases  the  use  is  purely 
secondary  and  metaphorical.    "  It  was  by  no  means 
the  customary  and  prevalent  designation  of  God 
by  the  Israelites.     Nowhere  in  the  Psalms,  which 
were  the  most  direct  expressions  of  reverence  to 
God  as  taught  in  the  Old  Testament,  was  God  ad- 
dressed as  Father  of  the  people  of  Israel  or  of  in- 
dividual Israelites.2     The  title  in  the  Psalms  was 
'King.'     In  the  utterance  of  the  Prophet  of  the 
Exile,  who  reached  the  summit  of  messianic  pre- 
diction, the  designation  is  '  Servant '  rather  than 
'Son'  of  Jehovah.     The  idea  of  a  divine  father 
is  nowhere  the  ruling  conception  in  the  Old  Tes- 
tament.   Jesus  made  it  at  once  a  ruling,  almost 

1  The  word  is  applied  to  God  not  more  than  seven  times  in  the 
Old  Testament.  See  Ps.  Ixviii.  5,  ciii.  13 ;  Isa.  ix.  6,  Ixiii.  16, 
Ixiv.  8  ;  Jer.  xxxi.  9  ;  1  Chron.  xxix.  10. 

2  In  both  the  cases  where  it  occurs  in  the  Psalms,  it  is  but  a 
simile.     See  Wendt,  Teaching  of  Jesus,  vol.  i.,  pp.  187,  188. 


''LED  OF  THE  spibit:'  129 

an  exclusive,  and  a  purely  spiritual  conception."  ^ 
This  was  his  stroke  of  originality. 

The  important  thing,  however,  for  us  to  observe 
concerning  the  coining,  or  at  least  the  stamping  as 
current,  of  this  term  for  the  Godhood,  ,     . 

'  .11  11     Culmination 

is  that  it  was  precisely  what  was  needed  of  the 

.  .  1         spirit. 

to  give  full  culminating  expression  to  the 
spirit  of  all  that  was  distinctively  Hebrew.     The 
most  original  things,  the  only  ones  that  are  of  use, 
are  they  which,  when  once  done,  appear  so  neces- 
sary that  we  are  surprised  no  one  thought  of  them 
before.    They  are  based,  not  upon  pure  invention, 
but  upon  keen  perception.    The  moment  Jesus  uses 
the  term  "Father,"  it  flashes  out  so  that  it  can 
never  again  be  obscured.     Then  it  appears  so  ob- 
vious as  to  need  no  proof  that  the  spirit  which  had 
been  striving  for  its  full  development  in  the  He- 
brew life  was  the  filial  spirit,  the  spirit  of  a  divine- 
human  sonship  and  brotherhood.    It  appears,  there- 
fore, that  in  hitting  upon  this  term  for  God,  Jesus 
was  obeying  the  promptings  of  the  ancient  Hebrew 
spirit,  was  at  a  single  stroke  fulfilling  in  poten- 
tiality every  jot  and  tittle  of  the  law  of  that  spirit. 
Until  the  time  of  his  baptism,  it  would  appear 
as  though  Jesus  lived  under  the  promptings  of  the 
filial  spirit,  in  his  individual  and  family   uLe^of  the 
and  village  life,  without  receiving  its  full  "p^"*" 
unction  as  an  historical  force  carrying  him  into  the 
currents  of  public  affairs  and  marking  him  out  for 
1  Wendt,  Teaching  of  Jesus,  vol.  i.,  pp.  18G-190. 


130      THE  PERSONALITY  AND   THE  SPIRIT. 

a  public  career.  Following  its  impulses,  however, 
as  it  led  him,  with  the  other  more  sensitive  of  his 
countrymen,  into  the  movement  started  by  the 
Baptist,  —  upon  whom  had  come  a  narrower  and 
more  specialized  manifestation  of  the  spirit,  which 
could  be  described  as  "the  spirit  and  power  of 
Elijah,"  1  —  Jesus  submitted  to  the  ordinance  which 
indicated  his  readiness  to  undertake  whatever  might 
be  his  share  in  the  coming  revolutions.  At  that 
moment  he  was  aware  that  the  spirit  descended 
upon  him  in  its  fullest  power,  and  rested  upon 
him.2  Immediately  afterward  it  drove  or  led  him 
into  the  wilderness  to  be  tempted.  In  this  temp- 
tation, allowing  for  the  necessarily  pictorial  modes 
of  statement  concerning  what  was  an  internal 
experience,  there  is  the  strictest  likeness  to  life. 
The  way  he  met  it  is  precisely  such  as  would  be 
prompted  by  the  filial  spirit  toward  God,  and  the 
correspondingly  fraternal  one  toward  his  feUow- 
men. 

When  Jesus  emerged  from  the  wilderness  after 
his  temptation,  and  began  his  public  life,  the  har- 
The  ers  ^^^J  ^^  ^^^  Spirit  and  his  personality  was 
aiity  and       such  that  it  bccomcs  difficult  to  speak  of 

the  spirit.  .  ^ 

one  without  writing  the  history  of   the 
other  in  detail.     It  is  henceforth  easier  to  iden- 

1  Luke  i.  17. 

^  "  At  his  baptism  he  became  conscious  that  that  thing-  which 
was  specific  to  the  messianic  preparation,  that  is,  the  spirit  of  Je- 
hovah, had  come  upon  him  in  full  measure."  Wendt,  Teaching 
of  Jesus,  vol.  i.,  pp.  99,  100.     See  also  p.  101. 


THE  PERSONALITY  AND   THE  SPIBIT.      131 

tify  the  spirit  as  his  than  as  the  ancient  Hebrew 
spirit,  although  it  is  certain  that  it  was  that  spirit 
which  had  entered  into  and  had  found  its  most 
perfect  expression  in  him.  Points  are  found,  how- 
ever, where  the  operation  of  the  spirit  may  be  dis- 
cerned. The  unity  and  the  progressiveness  in  his 
career,  for  instance,  is  rather  because  of  the  con- 
sistency in  his  spirit  than  because  of  any  compre- 
hensive grasp  of  idea.  It  is  true  that  the  thought 
which  he  hit  upon  at  his  twelfth  year  was  capable 
of  becoming  a  coordinating  and  constructive  idea. 
It  appears,  however,  that  he  is  ruled  less  by  the  filial 
idea  than  by  the  filial  spirit,  which  gave  to  him, 
without  logical  discursiveness,  such  ideas  and  such 
practical  promptings  as  he  needed  under  all  circum- 
stances. When,  therefore,  he  promised  his  disci- 
ples that  the  spirit  which  he  would  send  upon  them 
would  teach  them  all  things  and  bring  to  their 
minds  all  needed  recollections,^  he  was  probably 
taking  a  leaf  from  his  own  experience.  He  had 
learned  that  the  right  idea  would  come  when  cir- 
cumstances demanded  an  idea,  the  right  speech 
when  speech  was  wanted,  the  right  action  when 
action  was  needed,  and  that  the  pervading  power 
of  the  right  spirit  would  keep  these  aU  in  right 
relationships  with  one  another. 

The  filial  s]3irit  could  be  depended  upon  to  teach 
him  unerringly  concerning  all  the  problems  which 
presented    themselves.      When   the    question    of 

1  John  xiv.  26. 


132  THE  SPIRIT  AS  INSTINCT. 

prayer  was  raised,  he  was  ready  at  once  with  an 
The  spirit  answer  of  marvelous  felicity,  which  set- 
as  instinct.  ^Iq^  ti^g  ^yi^ole  question  in  the  light  of  the 
conception  of  divine  fatherhood,  the  only  concep- 
tion which  can  leave  room  for  prayer.  Even  the 
limitations  which  he  recognized  to  the  effective- 
ness of  prayer  were  prompted  by  the  same  spirit. 
"  Father,  I  knew  that  thou  hear  est  me  always,"  ^ 
he  says  at  one  time.  At  another  he  prays,  "If  it 
be  possible,  let  this  cup  pass."  Then,  acknowledg- 
ing the  superior  wisdom  of  the  Father,  he  assents, 
"  Not  as  I  will,  but  as  thou  wilt."  ^  He  felt  no  hes- 
itancy about  expressing  his  thought  to  his  Father, 
because  as  a  son  with  an  independent  life  of  his 
own  he  had  a  right  to  an  independent  opinion. 
"  As  the  Father  hath  life  in  himself,  so  hath  he 
given  to  the  Son  to  have  life  in  himself  ;  and  hath 
given  him  authority  to  execute  judgment  also,  be- 
cause he  is  the  Son  of  man."  ^  The  sense  of  son- 
ship  as  the  counterpart  of  fatherhood  gave  to  his 
intercourse  with  the  Father  the  largest  and  freest 
range,  and  took  away  from  it  every  hint  of  servil- 
ity. It  has  been  truly  said  ^  that  religion  does  not 
begin  until  the  sense  of  dependence  is  modified  by 
that  of  relative  personal  independence.  One  does 
not  pray  who  cannot  say  "  I "  as  well  as  "  Thou." 

1  John  xi.  42. 

2  Matt.  xxvi.  39 ;  Mark  xiv.  36. 
8  John  V.  26,  27. 

*  Matheson,  Messages  of  the  Old  Religions,  p.  13. 


PROVIDENCE  AND  ANGELS  AND  DEMONS.    133 

To  such  an  extent  did  the  filial  spirit  dominate 
Jesus  that  the  whole  external  world  was  to  him 
but  the  manifestation  of  the  Father's  love  ^he  objec- 
and  thought.  Hence  his  observations  "^«  ^^'^'^^'i- 
and  meditations  were  colloquies  with  the  Father. 
Every  presentation  of  objective  truth,  in  so  far  as 
it  became  intelligible,  was  the  Father's  voice.  Yet 
in  that  the  perfection  of  the  filial  spirit  was  not 
more  manifest  than  in  the  complementary  fact 
that  he  was  never  betrayed  by  it  into  mistaking 
subjective  impressions  or  hallucinations  for  the  di- 
vine voice.  He  and  the  Father  were  not  only  one : 
they  were  also  two;  and  he  never  "confounded 
the  persons."  That  is  to  say,  he  never  had  trances, 
as  even  men  so  sane  as  Paul  and  Socrates  had. 
The  emancipation  of  the  God-vision  from  abnor- 
mal subjective  conditions,  which  had  been  one  of 
the  triimiphs  of  tlie  Hebrew  prophetic  spirit  in  its 
earlier  evolution,  was  in  him  altogether  complete. 
His  perceptions  were  as  sane  and  objective  as 
though  he  received  his  truth,  like  the  scientist, 
from  purely  impersonal  sources.  At  the  same 
time  they  were  as  warm  and  glowing  as  those  of 
the  mystic. 

The  genuinely  filial  spirit  of  Jesus  is  illustrated 
in  his  attitude  toward  the  idea  of  divine 

.  T  XT  •  •  f  Providence 

providence.      He   carries   to    its   perfec-  andangeis 

r»/^i»  !•  and  demons. 

tion    the    thought    or    (jrod  s    relation  to 

the  world  which  is  suggested  in  Genesis.^     While 

1  See  Lecture  III. 


134  PBOVIDENCE  AND  ANGELS  AND  DEMONS. 

he  cannot  be  satisfied  with  a  merely  impersonal, 
clockwork  universe,  ruled  by  dead  law,  yet  he  has 
no  use  in  this  connection  for  the  angels  and  demons 
which  had  crept  into  the  later  Jewish  thought  to 
take  the  place  of  the  banished  demigods  of  the 
earlier  paganism.  To  him  the  Father  is  so  near 
that  he  needs  no  mediators.  The  only  mediator 
needed  is  one  to  bridge  the  moral  chasm  which  has 
opened  between  God  and  all  the  race  but  himself, 
through  the  loss  of  the  spirit  of  children.  This 
office  he  finds  it  his  mission  to  undertake.  No 
angel  is  needed,  or  could  do  it  half  so  well.  As  to 
demons,  he  experiences  something  of  the  same  dif- 
ficidty  as  the  authors  of  Genesis  concerning  the 
problem  of  evil.  He  doubtless  regarded  Satan 
and  the  demons  as  real  persons,  in  much  the  same 
way  as  he  did  the  Holy  Spirit.  That  is,  he  was 
not  so  imhistorical  as  to  transcend  the  mental 
habits  of  his  age,  and  think  of  them  in  other  than 
the  theological  way.  Yet  he  was  so  sensitive  to 
realities  that  he  held  no  conceptions  and  used  no 
language  concerning  them  which  was  not  easily 
translatable  into  thoroughly  scientific  terms.  The 
prevalence  at  that  time  of  spiritual  phenomena, 
social  forces  of  great  and  malign  influence,  pro- 
ducing mental  and  nervous  disorders,  cannot  be 
disputed.  They  were  an  organic  part  of  the  age  it- 
ielf.  Their  existence  as  important  social  elements 
is  accounted  for  by  the  same  set  of  spiritual  causes 
which  made  the  age  in  general  what  it  was.     In 


S  ADDUCE  AN  DEISM.  135 

recognizing  the  fact  that  he  had  spiritual  antago- 
nists to  contend  with,  Jesus  utters  a  saying  cor- 
responding to  that  of  the  Protevangelium  ^  when 
he  says,  "  I  beheld  Satan  as  lightning  fall  from 
heaven  ;  "  ^  thus  indicating  that  as  the  writer  of 
Genesis  had  faith  that  the  evil  being  would  be 
banished  from  the  physical  universe,  so  he  had  no 
doubt  that  evil  was  to  be  banished  from  the  spirit- 
ual universe.  The  same  spirit  which  had  produced 
the  Protevangelium  prompted  this  saying. 

While  thus  on  the  one  hand  Jesus  had  freed 
himself  from  the  demonology  and  angelology  of 
the  Pharisees,  on  the  other  hand  he  stood  sadducean 
out  against  the  essential  atheism  of  the  ^®^^"^" 
Sadducees.  Their  denial  of  the  intervention  of 
the  angels  and  demons  was  part  of  a  materialistic 
deism  which  ignored  the  personality  of  the  power 
behind  phenomena,  and  used  the  religious  factor 
in  society  as  a  mere  political  makeweight.  He  ac- 
cepted their  doctrine  of  uniformity,  but  regarded 
it  as  the  uniform  kindness  of  a  Father  who  with 
impartial  love  and  forgiveness  sends  his  rain  and 
sunshine  upon  just  and  unjust,  and  who  pitied  not 
only  the  fallen  monarch  or  saint,  but  the  fallen 
sparrow.  And  so,  in  the  same  spirit,  he  improves 
upon  Genesis,  and,  without  interfering  with  physi- 
cal science,  or  pandering  to  the  mythological  ten- 
dency, he  introduces  the  thought  of  what  may  be 
called  a  universal  special  providence.  Only  the 
1  Gen.  iii.  15.  2  L^ke  x.  18. 


136  THE   UNSEEN    WOELD. 

filial  spirit  at  its  best  is  able  to  grasp  such  a 
thought  of  God's  relation  to  the  world ;  and  yet  it 
is  but  a  carrying  out  of  the  spirit  of  the  ancient 
Hebrew. 

While  Jesus  had  no  such  use  for  the  angels  as 
the  Pharisees  had,  since  his  God  was  not  a  God 
Tiie  unseen  ^f ar  off ,  yct  he  was  prompted  by  his  spirit 
^''^^^-  to  adopt  the  idea  that  the  unseen  parts 

of  the  universe  were  peopled  by  holy  beings  in- 
numerable who  were  full  of  interest  in  men.  This 
was  a  necessary  though  unconscious  corollary  from 
the  conception  of  God  as  a  loving  Father.  Such 
a  God  could  not  be  postulated  as  dwelling  in  an 
unpopulated  vacuum.  To  do  so  would  be  a  contra- 
diction in  terms.  Yet  the  saneness  of  Jesus  kept 
him  from  imagining  that  he  had  any  special  infor- 
mation concerning  these  beings ;  and  hence  when 
he  goes  farther  it  is  evident  that  he  is  speaking 
pictorially ;  as  when,  borrowing  current  notions,  he 
puts  the  touch  of  color  into  his  portrait  of  Lazarus 
being  carried  by  the  angels  into  Abraham's  bosom. 

The  combination  of  unfaltering  faith  with  com- 
plete reticence  as  to  detail  concerning  the  future 
Immortal-  ^^^ ^  ^^^^  himsclf  and  others  is  owing  to  his 
ity.  prompting  by  the  same  spirit.     As  a  Son 

of  God  he  could  not  contemplate  death  as  other 
than  a  sleep.  To  have  convinced  him  that  it  ended 
all  would  have  been  to  smother  out  his  life.  He 
could  breathe  no  other  atmosphere  than  that  of 
divine  sonship.     His  God  was  "  not  a  God  of  the 


GOSPEL  OF  THE  KINGDOM.  137 

dead,  but  of  the  living."  ^  As  little  could  his  spirit 
of  brotherhood  brook  the  idea  that  his  relations  to 
other  men  were  merely  transient.  He  was  not  the 
brother  of  the  dead,  but  of  the  living.  He  could  do 
no  other  than  affirm  that  love  is  eternal,  and  hence 
that  the  persons  without  whom  it  cannot  exist  are 
immortal.  Yet  he  stopped  there.  He  attempted 
no  revelation  concerning  the  things  that  are  be- 
yond. He  respected  the  opacity  of  the  veil  that 
divides  this  world  from  the  next,  and  he  did  not 
surrender  the  wholesomeness  of  his  nature  by  any 
lapse  into  necromancy.  He  held  only  such  things 
true  as  the  spirit  of  divine  sonship  and  human 
brotherhood  required.^ 

It  was  this  spirit  which  created  for  him  his  mis- 
sion, and  gave  him  his  gospel  of  the  kingdom  and 
his  personal  place  in  history.     His  assur-         ^^  ^^ 
ance  that  he  and  all  other  men  were  sons  the  king- 

dom. 

of  God  gave  him  a  wholesome  attitude 
toward  human  society  and  history.  He  saw  the 
evil  that  was  in  it  as  no  one  else  had  seen  it ;  but 
he  also  possessed  in  the  highest  degree  the  spirit 
of  Hebrew  optimism.  He  did  not  admit  that  evil 
was  such  a  dominant  element  that  it  was  hopeless 
to  attemi3t  to  redeem  society.     He  did  not  believe 

1  Luke  XX.  38. 

2  The  apparent  exceptions  in  the  cases  of  the  transfiguration 
and  of  the  resurrection  are  not  overlooked.  This  is  not  the  place 
to  discuss  them  ;  but  psychologically  they  are  wholesome  uistead 
of  morbid,  and  thus,  in  this  respect  at  least,  stand  in  a  category 
by  themselves. 


138  SELF-OBLITERATION. 

that  the  courses  of  history  led  only  to  destruction, 
or  that  the  sole  salvation  was  to  get  out  of  the 
world.  He  did  not  desire  that  for  his  followers. 
For  himself,  he  set  to  work  to  compass  the  world's 
redemption  by  entering  into  its  history,  deliber- 
ately choosing  to  identify  himself  with  the  course 
of  events  which  had  been  preparing  messianic  pos- 
sibilities. The  idea  of  a  divine  fatherhood  in- 
cludes and  legitimizes  all  history,  and  so  it  is  emi- 
nently proper  that  Jesus  take  up  the  threads  of 
national  life  and  seek  through  it  to  realize  his  mes- 
siahship.  Thus  it  was  that  he  adopted  the  idea  of 
the  kino'dom  of  God  as  the  burden  of  his  first 
preaching.  Instead  of  preaching  the  divine  father- 
hood directly,  which  would  not  have  been  adapted 
to  the  mental  readiness  of  his  hearers,  he  met  them 
part  way  by  preaching  the  kingdom  of  God,  and 
then  interpreting  it  to  them  in  the  light  of  divine 
fatherhood.  So  he  linked  himself  with  the  his- 
torical continuities.^ 

The  fact  that  the  expectation  of  Israel  was  still 
divided  between  that  of  a  kingdom  of  God  and  that 
Seif-obiiter-  oi  a  pcrsoual  Messiah  made  it  possible 
ation.  £^^  j^-j^  ^Q  j-^Q^j  -^^i^  ^^j^iii  near  the  end 

of  his  career  the  assertion  of  his  personal  messiah- 
ship.  This  reticence  was  partly  because  it  was 
consonant  with  his  spirit  not  to  put  himself  for- 
ward unnecessarily.  Only  circumstances,  moreover, 
could  reveal  to  him  how  he  was  to  figure  in  the 

1  Wendt,  Teachings  of  Jesus,  vol.  i.,  p.  97. 


NATUBAL   UNITY.  139 

affair.  He  knew  that  he  was  to  hold  a  unique 
position  ;  but  what  that  position  was  he  could 
learn  only  by  experience.  He  might  easily  have 
conceived  that  he  was  to  be  the  unseen  and 
unknown  agent  in  bringing  in  that  kingdom,  and 
that  all  the  glory  of  it  was  to  go  to  God  alone,  or 
to  other  men ;  and  he  would  doubtless  have  been 
abundantly  satisfied  to  have  it  that  way.  He 
received  "  not  honor  from  men."  The  fact  that 
he  was  to  be  the  Messiah  no  more  necessarily 
involved  to  his  mind  the  fact  that  he  was  to 
be  known  or  proclaimed  as  such  than  it  did  at 
first  that  he  was  to  be  known  only  to  be  despised 
and  rejected  and  slain.  Indeed,  the  duty  of  mak- 
ing his  personal  messiahship  known  probably  came 
to  him  simultaneously  with  that  of  going  to  Je- 
rusalem to  face  death.  So  Jesus  withheld  the 
proclamation  of  his  personal  relationship  to  the 
kingdom  he  was  proclaiming  in  the  days  of  his 
popularity  and  prospective  success,  and  brought  it 
forward  when  a  victim  was  demanded.  This  was 
like  one  who  was  animated  by  the  spirit  of  the 
true  sonship  and  brotherhood.^ 

To  Jesus,  looking  at  human  society  in  the  light 
of  that  spirit,  the  family  and  the  circle  Natural 
of   friends,  the  nation  and  the   church,  ""^^'y- 
were  seen  to  be  of  divine  ordaining.     He  saw  that 
the  natural  units  and  sub-units  and  all  the  nat- 

1  Keim,  Jesus  of  Nazara,  vol.  iv.,  pp.  256-281.    Weiss,  Life  of 
Christ,  Book  V.,  cap.  vi. 


140  JESUS'  COSMOPOLITANISM. 

ural  relationships  belonged,  in  so  far  as  they  were 
normal,  to  the  divine  order.  He  did  not  propose 
to  break  away  from  that  order.  His  own  society, 
in  so  far  as  it  was  necessary  that  his  redemptive 
work  begin  through  some  nucleus,  should  be  the 
most  natural  kind  of  thing  ;  for  nothing  artificial 
was  as  divine  as  that  which  was  natural.  His 
society,  therefore,  was  based  upon  friendship :  "  I 
have  called  you  friends."  ^  Its  model,  if  any- 
thing so  natural  needed  a  model,  was  probably,  as 
has  been  remarked  before,  the  "  remnant,"  rather 
than  the  synagogue  or  the  temple.  Moreover,  he 
chose  to  connect  it  with  both  the  family  and  the 
nation,  and  with  one  of  the  profoundest  of  the 
national  religious  ideas,  by  borrowing  its  sacra- 
mental observance  from  the  passover,  which  was 
at  once  a  family,  a  national,  and  a  religious  obser- 
vance. And  so,  with  unerring  instinct,  Jesus  put 
himself  into  the  j)osition  of  greatest  advantage  in 
ordinary  life,  in  the  family,  national,  and  religious 
life,  a  position  which  he  has  held  and  strengthened 
until  this  day. 

It  is  impossible,  in  so  condensed  a  sketch  as  this, 
to  do  more  than  illustrate  the  way  in  which  Jesus, 

without  doing  anything  magical  or  arti- 
cosmopoii-      ficial,  but  by  the   supreme   naturalness 

of  a  life  ruled  by  the  spirit  of  life,  the 
spirit  of  divine  sonshij)  and  brotherhood,  took  to 
himself  all  the  offices  in  the  gift  of  humanity,  more 

1  John  XV.  15. 


JESUS'   COSMOFOLITANISM.  141 

skillfully  and  more  spontaneously  than  Augustus 
had  concentrated  upon  himself  all  the  offices  in 
the  gift  of  the  Roman  people.     One  of  the  things 
often  commented  upon  is  that  Jesus  was  ignorant 
of  how  great  was  the  world  he  was  undertaking  to 
save,  of  how  many  millions  were  in  it,  of  how 
many  billions  were  yet  to  be  born,  of  how  great 
was  its  extent,  what  continents  were  yet  unmarked 
upon  its  maps.     Jesus  never  formed  any  notion  of 
geographical  areas.     Yet  he  was  truly  cosmopoli- 
tan.    Never  was  a  shallower  sneer   than  that  of 
Renan   at   Jesus'    provincialism,  —  as  though  be- 
cause he  was  not  Parisian!     Jesus  was  specially 
acquainted  with  the  apocalyptic  book  of  Daniel,  of 
whose  author  Renan  himself  has  well  said  that  he 
was  "the  real  creator  of  the  philosophy  of  his- 
tory." 1     No   Roman    emperor   or    senator   could 
have  so  wide  an  outlook  or  so  deep  an  insight  into 
the  actual  historical  conditions  of  his  age  as  could 
come  to  a  young  Galilean  imbued  with  the  Hebrew 
spirit  and  educated  in  the  literature  of  that  spirit. 
Jesus,  indeed,  saw  only  the  symbols  of  Greek  cul- 
ture and  Roman  power.     But  he  had  a  key  pos- 
sessed by  neither  Greek  nor  Roman  with  which  to 
interpret   the   meanings  of   those   symbols.     The 
spirit  took  the  things  of  Greece  and  Rome  and 
showed  them  unto  him. 

It  was  in  accordance  with  the  spirit  of  this  his- 
torical movement  into  which  Jesus  entered  that  he 

1  Vie  de  J4sus,  cap.  iii. 


142       THE  PHILOSOPHY  OF  OUTLAWBY. 

should  choose   the  cross.     A  true   philosophy  of 
history  recognizes  the   law  of   sacrifice, 
phy  of ^  out-  Jesus  did  not  choose  to  identify  his  per- 
*^'^^'  son  and  his  name  with  the  kingdom  he 

was  building  until  it  became  clear  that  a  life  must 
be  given  for  it.  More  than  a  life  was  demanded. 
One  was  wanted  who  was  willing  not  only  to  lay 
down  his  life,  but  to  do  it  as  an  outcast,  as  of  the 
offscourings  of  the  earth,  to  go  to  an  ignominious 
death.  There  is  something  more  absolute  than 
to  become  the  sacrifice  for  sin ;  that  is,  to  become 
the  offal  of  that  sacrifice.  So  it  is  that  the  author 
of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews  calls  attention  to 
the  fact,  not  that  Jesus  became  a  victim  on  the 
altar,  but  that  he  was  crucified  without  the  gate,i 
where  those  parts  of  the  victim  not  considered 
clean  enough  for  the  altar  were  disposed  of. 
This  was  not  a  denial,  but  a  superlative  application 
of  the  law  of  sacrifice,  —  to  be  destroyed  as  unfit 
for  regular  sacrifice.^  The  logic  of  the  law  of 
sacrifice  requires  that  he  who  fulfills  it  to  the 
uttermost  should  be  rejected  as  unfit  to  fulfill  it. 
A  true  philosophy  of  history,  like  that  of  the 
Prophet  of  the  Exile,  will  discover  the  law  of  out- 
lawry, to  which  we  have  referred  heretofore,  by 

1  Heb.  xiii.  12. 

2  Everett,  Gospel  of  Paul  Professor  Everett  believes  that 
Paul's  teaching  concerning  Jesus'  relation  to  the  law  was  that  it 
made  him  an  outlaw,  that  in  fact  this  was  its  purpose.  It  is  a 
question  whether  this  view  so  much  conflicts  with  as  consum- 
mates the  ordinary  one. 


"  THE  ANOINTING   TEACHETW  143 

wliicli  alone  certain  crises  could  be  passed.  The 
messianic  movement  was  inaugurated  and  carried 
forward  through  its  critical  periods  by  men  who 
faced  outlawry.!  Jesus  in  consummating  it  will- 
ii^gly  g3,ve  himself  up  as  the  world's  Supreme 
Outlaw. 

The  unerringness  with  which  Jesus  places  him- 
self at  the  central  point,  and  fulfills  in  every  way 
the  highest  law  of  human  life  and  his- 

"  The 

tory,  forces  upon  us  the  persuasion  that  anointing 

teacheth." 

it  was  done  by  the  spontaneous  impulses 
of  his  spirit  rather  than  in  obedience  to  any 
clearly  worked  out  and  prearranged  plan.  As 
above  stated,  it  is  exceptionally  difficult:  to  distin- 
guish between  the  spirit  and  the  personality  of 
Jesus,  because  there  is  no  conflict  between  them 
as  in  other  men.  It  is  only  where  it  is  natural 
for  the  spirit  to  act  with  a  wider  scope  than  the 
personality  that  we  can  mark  the  difference  be- 
tween the  two.  Jesus,  for  instance,  could  not 
know  that  there  was  such  a  continent  as  America, 
and  hence  could  not  take  it  into  accoimt  in  pro- 
viding for  the  future  of  his  kingdom.  The  spirit 
did  not  need  to  know,  but  it  acted  with  as  much 
Ideological  wisdom  as  if  it  had  known.  Person- 
ally, Jesus  expected  the  end  of  the  world  to  come 
within  a  generation.  His  spirit  so  guided  him 
that  that  opinion  involved  no  practical  error  of 
judgment ;  and  he  acted  as  wisely  as  he  could 
1  For  example,  Abraham,  Moses,  Elijah,  Jeremiah. 


144  HEBREW  HISTORY  AND  JESUS. 

have  done  had  he  foreseen  the  future.  We  can 
love  him,  because  he  is  a  man  like  ourselves,  and 
no  monster  of  a  demigod.  We  can  trust  him, 
because  he  has  the  spirit  of  a  God.  As  a  man  he 
was  perfect.  He  would  not  have  been  a  perfect 
man,  but  a  perfect  something  else,  if  he  had  fore- 
seen all  things.  He  needed  no  such  non-human 
foresight,  for  the  spirit  of  truth  guided  him.  He 
was  "Christus,"  '*the  anointed  one,"  because  of 
the  spirit  which  was  poured  out  upon  him;  and 
it  was  through  the  anointing  of  this  spirit  that 
he  was  able  to  perform  the  offices  of  the  Christ. 

After  this  attempt  to  throw  upon  the  life  of 
Jesus  the  light  of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  it  might  be 
Hebrew  his-  wcll  to  rcvicw  briefly  Hebrew  history  in 
ofJesL"^'''  the  light  of  his  spirit.  We  do  not  find 
spmt.  'j^  ^jj^^  history  the  idea   of   divine  son- 

ship  and  human  brotherhood  expressed  with  any 
lucidity  or  consistency.  Yet  the  spirit  is  in  ad- 
vance of  the  idea.  The  spirit  which  rules  in 
Hebrew  history  is  that  of  right  personal  relation- 
ships. It  is  this  which  leads  to  reform  in  religion 
as  well  as  in  morals.  Its  instinct  is  that  social 
and  religious  relationships  are  identical  in  nature. 
Canon  Fremantle  is  in  error  when  he  assumes 
that  it  is  only  when  one  "  comes  to  know  the 
central  unity  as  Father,  as  love,  that  the  relation 
between  him  and  that  unity  becomes  personal, 
spiritual,"  and  that  "  this  extends  to  all  parts  of 
the  world,  and  especially  to  the  relations  of  men 


HEBREW  HISTORY  AND  JESUS.  145 

to  one  another."  ^  The  error  is  in  conditionins^ 
such  spiritual  relationship  upon  knowledge.  The 
knowledge  is  more  likely  to  grow  out  of  a  per- 
ception of  spiritual  relationships  already  existing 
than  to  precede  and  form  the  basis  of  the  relation- 
ships. Only  by  the  utmost  stretch  of  accommoda- 
tion of  terms  can  the  Hebrew  be  said  to  have  had 
any  inkling  of  the  knowledge  of  divine  fatherhood 
and  hmnan  sonship.  Even  Fremantle,  when  he 
comes  to  deal  with  the  subject  concretely,  falls 
back  upon  the  "  spirit  of  the  law."  ^  The  theo- 
cratic idea  in  Israel  was  softened  and  corrected 
by  the  spirit  of  something  still  nobler.  Some- 
times that  spirit  lifted  the  idea  near  to  that  of 
a  father.  "  Like  as  a  father,"  said  the  psalmist.^ 
"  I  will  be  his  father,  and  he  shall  be  my  son."  * 
Yet  the  suggestion  is  always  faint,  while  the 
spirit  is  indisputable.  More,  however,  than  in 
the  occasional  lift  near  to  the  idea  is  the  spirit 
of  this  perfect  relationship  made  plain  by  the 
nature  of  the  claims  which  Jehovah  is  thought 
to  make  upon  his  people.  "  There  is  probably," 
says  Fremantle,  "  in  modern  h3^mns,  eighteen  cen- 
turies after  Christ,  more  of  artificial  religion  than 
in  the  psalms  written  in  the  bosom  of  Judaism." 
"  Almost  every  psalm  appeals  to  the  law  of  plain 
justice,   public   and   private."  ^     Jehovah   is   the 

^  The  World  as  Subject  of  Redemjition,  p.  49. 

2  Ibid.,  p.  51.  3  Psalm  ciii.  13.  ^  2  Sara.  vii.  14. 

fi  The  World  as  Subject  of  Redemption,  p.  53. 


146        SELF-BESTRAINT  OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

champion  of  the  widow  and  the  fatherless,  of  the 
helpless  and  the  weak.  He  delights  in  just  rulers 
and  judges,  and  in  the  festivals  which  foster  and 
express  the  common  life  of  the  people  and  their 
mutual  interests.  Here  we  see  the  spirit  of  rela- 
tionship, of  fatherhood  and  sonship.  So  much  in 
accord  with  this  spirit  was  the  Hebrew  law  that  it 
could  afterward  be  said  that  he  had  fulfilled  it 
who  had  loved  his  neighbor. 

The  idea  of  divine  fatherhood  could  have  pro- 
duced no  good  results  had  it  been  broached.  For 
the  term  was  wrapped  up  with  animal- 
straintof  ism  and  sensualism,  and  the  only  way 
le  spin  .  ^^  redeem  it  was  to  do  without  it  for  a 
time.i  To  think  of  Jehovah  as  the  national  God 
in  the  sense  of  a  progenitor  would  have  tempted 
to  a  conception  of  a  non-moral  favoritism,  and  so 
to  a  precluding  of  the  idea  of  universalism.  So 
the  Hebrew  mind  was  turned  in  another  direction. 
It  did  not  think  of  God  as  belonging  to  them,  but 
of  them  as  belonging  to  him ;  and  that  not 
because  he   had   begotten,   but   because    he    had 

^  It  is  perhaps  as  well,  on  the  whole,  that  mediaeval  theology, 
existing  as  it  did  as  the  counterpart  of  so  imperfect  a  political 
and  social  system  and  a  false  doctrine  of  the  family,  should  have 
dwelt  upon  some  secondary  attribute  of  God  rather  than  upon 
the  idea  of  Fatherhood.  To  have  used  that  name  in  the  circum- 
stances would  have  been  only  to  take  it  in  vain.  Indeed,  the 
assumption  of  the  title  "  Holy  Father  "  by  the  head  of  the  ecclesi- 
astical svstem  made  the  term  for  the  time  an  impossibility  in  a 
true  theology. 


TUB  PROFUNDITIES.  147 

chosen  them.  On  the  other  hand,  he  was  regarded 
as  the  creator  and  ruler  of  all  men.  In  this  and 
in  other  ways  many  errors  were  guarded  against. 
The  true  family  had  to  be  evolved  by  the  oper- 
ation of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  before  the  time  came 
when  the  term  Father  would  not  be  misconstrued. 
Thus  it  was  the  very  spirit  of  the  higher  spiritual 
relationship  which  Jesus  meant  by  "Father  "  that 
had  prompted  to  the  temporary  suppression  of  the 
idea  of  Fatherhood. 

It  is  possible   to  sum  up  all  that  was  specific 
in  Hebrew  history,  that  which  both  differentiated 
it   from    and    finally  integrated  it  with 
other  courses  of  history,  as  the  spirit  of  Hebrew 
right  relationships  between  all  personal- 
ities ;  which  relationships   Jesus  exemplified  and 
expressed  in   his  own  relationships  towards  God 
and  man.    The  Hebrew  community  was  a  brother- 
hood  in   which   human   relationships   were   more 
truly  realized  than  elsewhere,  and  the  spirit  of  it 
gave   birth   to  the  promise  of  an  all-embracing 
society,  including   the   "  whole  range    of   human 
interests,   and   binding   all   men  and  classes  and 
nations  together   in   true  relations  ;  "  which   "  is 
the  work  and  expression  of  the  spirit  of  God." 

It  is  not  the  fault  of  the  facts,  but  of  want  of 
skill  in  the  presentation  of  them,  if  it  is  not  now 
clear  that  this  spiritual  agency  is  a  con-  ^he  profun- 
Crete  element  in  the  history  of  the  He-  ^'^'^^" 
brew  nation  and  of  Jesus,  and  that  it  is  the  one 


148  THE  PROFUNDITIES. 

continuous  and  specializing  factor  therein.  Before 
passing  to  its  further  consideration,  it  is  necessary 
to  prechide  misunderstanding  by  explaining  that, 
while  we  have  persisted  in  speaking  of  that  which 
can  be  seen  by  any  one  possessing  ordinary  powers 
of  discernment,  we  have  not  been  unaware  that 
all  spiritual  phenomena  lie  along  the  edge  of  the 
eternal  mysteries.  Every  personal  relationship 
has  in  it  an  element  of  the  Infinite  and  the  Un- 
knowable. It  is  not  necessary  to  be  always  say- 
ing so,  or  to  be  obfuscating  one's  self  with  vain 
efforts  to  penetrate  the  mystery;  yet  it  is  neces- 
sary to  bear  it  in  mind,  and  not  to  permit  our- 
selves to  think  of  either  the  Supreme  Person  or 
of  any  fellow-man  without  some  touch  of  that  awe 
and  sacredness  which  is  akin  to  worship.  Two 
persons  never  meet  without  looking  over  the  abyss 
of  infinitude  and  eternity.  Worship  is  a  factor 
in  every  true  personal  relationship.  We  are  a 
holy  nation,  a  royal  priesthood,  each  giving  and 
receiving  homage.  The  spiritual,  even  when  we 
refuse  to  enter  the  theological  or  metaphysical 
sphere,  brings  us  face  to  face  with  the  Insoluble 
Reality.  But  this  is  also  true  of  physical  phe- 
nomena. There  also  we  come  into  the  presence  of 
infinitude  and  eternity.  The  atoms  which  com- 
pose the  material  molecules  also  attract  or  repel 
one  another  across  unfathomable  spaces.  Physi- 
cal science  is  not  paralyzed  or  distracted,  or  driven 
to  mythology  or  metaphysics,  by  this  fact.  Spirit- 
ual science  may  maintain  a  like  equanimity. 


JESUS  AN  ERA.  149 

As  remarked  before,  the  Christian  era  might 
as  well  have  been  dated  from  Pentecost  as  from 
the  birth  of  Jesus.  Jesus  was  an  era  in  j^g^^  ^^ 
himself.  Our  era  began  after  he  went  ®^'*" 
away.  While  he  was  with  his  disciples  his  per- 
sonality absorbed  them,  and  the  incidents  of  it 
occupied  their  attention.  They  did  not  under- 
stand, still  less  were  they  swayed,  by  the  spirit 
which  characterized  him.  As  a  person  he  had 
monopolized  their  social  and  religious  possibilities. 
He  had  become  their  world  and  their  God,  though 
they  had  been  unaware  of  the  processes  by  which 
it  had  come  about.  He  had  gathered  to  himself 
a  great  part  of  the  attributes  which  in  the  mind 
of  the  pious  Jew  belonged  to  Jehovah,  and  his 
society  had  taken  the  place  of  the  nation  in  their 
interests  and  affections.  His  removal  had  brought 
them  to  desolation.  They  were  stranded  and 
stunned.  They  were  to  all  intents  and  purposes 
without  a  God  and  without  a  hope  in  the  world. 
When  questioned  about  the  matter,  all  they  could 
say  was  that  they  had  "hoped  that  it  was  he 
which  should  redeem  Israel."  ^  The  fixed  idea 
of  the  prophets  and  psalmists  that  Jehovah  was 
the  Eedeemer  of  Israel  had  lost  its  hold  upon 
them.2  They  do  not  appear  to  have  prayed.  The 
sound  of  the  Angelus  is  not  heard  from  Good 
Friday   to   Easter.      They   could   not   say    "Our 

1  Luke  xxiv.  21. 

2  Psalm  cxxx.  8;  Isa.  xli.  14,  xliii.  14;  etc.,  etc. 


150  THE  RESURRECTION. 

Father."  They  had  learned  from  Jesus  to  pray 
to  his  "  Father,"  and  if  he  was  not,  his  "  Father  " 
had  been  proved  an  ilkision.  They  huddled 
together  or  wandered  aimlessly,  like  frightened 
sheep  from  whom  the  shepherd  had  been  taken. 

Then  came  to  them  that  group  of  experiences 
which  had  upon  them  at  least  the  effect  of  an 
Theresur-  objectivc  appcaraucc  of  Jesus  risen. 
rection.  rpj^^^  belicved  in  and  had  visions.  They 
believed  that  men's  ghosts  sometimes  walked.^ 
But  they  did  not  believe  that  the  ghosts  were  the 
men,  and  they  not  only  declared  that  they  had 
seen  something  else  than  a  ghost,  but  to  the  end 
consistently  acted  as  if  they  had.  The  effect, 
therefore,  upon  the  disciples  themselves,  and 
through  them  upon  the  history  of  the  world,  has 
been  as  though  Jesus  actually  rose  from  the  dead. 
His  personality  has  entered  into  the  religious  life 
of  mankind  in  such  a  way  as  to  give  to  the  sub- 
jective persuasion  that  he  rose,  if  it  was  subjective, 
all  the  energy  and  persistence  of  an  objective 
perception.  "  The  power  of  his  resurrection  "  ^  at 
least  is  an  objective  phenomenon. 

But  still  the  disciples  were  helpless  and  spirit- 
less. They  could  but  wait  for  a  new  endowment 
Age  of  the  of  spiritual  power.  The  renewed  faith 
Bpint.  -jj  |.|^g  personality  of  Jesus  was  essential 

to  the  impartation  of   that  spirit ;  but  the  exist- 

1  Mark  vi.  49  ;  Luke  xxiv.  37-39. 

2  PhU.  iii.  10. 


AGE  OF  TUE  SPIEIT.  151 

ence  of  tliat  faith  did  not  make  it  a  foregone 
conclusion  that  the  spirit  would  appear.  That 
such  a  spirit  did  appear  the  testimony  is  ample. 
In  spite  of  the  hesitation  of  many  critics,  the 
accounts  in  the  book  of  Acts  must  be  admitted  to 
have  in  their  main  outlines  the  air  of  historicity. 
Luke's  own  conception  of  the  spirit  and  its  modes 
of  operation  was  so  conventionally  inadequate  that 
he  cannot  be  supposed  to  have  invented  these 
things.  1  It  is  historically  probable  that  the  dis- 
ciples would  wait,  no  longer  in  their  former  hope- 
lessness, but  engaged  in  nugatory  administrative 
details  and  in  rather  aimless  devotions,  until 
there  came  upon  them,  like  an  earthquake  or 
whirlwind,^  or,  as  the  "  Teaching  of  the  Twelve  " 
says,  with  a  "  strange,  sweet  odor,"  the  power  of 
a  spirit  which  at  once  set  them  going  with  a  spe- 
cifically different  and  higher  kind  of  activity.  It 
was  fitting  that  when  the  spirit  of  Jesus  mani- 
fested itself  it  should  first  bring  the  pent-up 
convictions  and  aims  of  the  disciples  to  articulate 
exjiression,  and  that  the  impulsive  Peter  should 
be  their  spokesman.  Then  for  the  first  time,  as 
they  always  afterwards  confessed,  they  began  to 
understand  Jesus,  and  his  language  and  actions. 

1  The  name  "  Holy  Spirit "  appears  some  ninety-three  times  in 
the  New  Testament.  Of  these,  fifty-two  are  found  in  Luke's 
writings.  It  was  one  of  his  literary  "  properties,"  and  was  gen- 
erally employed  with  little  discrimination. 

2  Acts  i.  13-2G ;  ii.  1  f . 


152  GIFT  OF  TONGUES. 

What  he  had  said  and  done  came  back  to  them 
fraught  with  the  profoundest  meaning  and  preg- 
nant with  truths  of  immeasurable  import. 

The  spirit  of  Jesus  has  done  more  than  any- 
other  power  to  open  the  gates  of  human  speech, 
Qjftof  and  to  stimidate  the  interplay  of  those 

tongues.  personal  forces  which  find  their  channels 
in  language.  It  was  not  only  fitting,  it  was  neces- 
sary that  that  which  had  now  come  into  the  world 
shoidd  begin  with  something  like  "a  gift  of 
tongues."  "  Language,"  says  Matheson,  "  is  the 
first  instinct  of  unselfishness.  The  earliest  words 
uttered  by  the  lips  of  childhood  mark  the  tran- 
sition from  the  age  of  receiving  to  the  age  of 
giving;  for  words  are  the  vehicles  of  thought, 
and  speech  is  the  gift  of  thought  from  man  to 
man.  We  are  not  surprised  when,  almost  imme- 
diately after  the  Pentecostal  outpouring,  we  are 
told  that  these  disciples  had  all  things  common. 
The  age  of  brotherhood  had  begun.  Hitherto 
the  disciples  had  been  divided  against  themselves 
by  the  recurrence  of  that  question  which  had  its 
source  in  personal  ambition  :  '  Who  shall  be  great- 
est in  the  kingdom  of  heaven  ? '  But  with  Pen- 
tecost there  woke  into  consciousness  the  reality 
of  that  great  truth  which  as  yet  had  been  latent 
within  them,  that  whosoever  would  be  greatest 
must  be  servant  of  all.  As  the  spirit  of  the  new 
religion  found  vent  in  language,  the  disciple  passed 
out  of  himself  and  entered  into  the  heart  of  his 


CONTINUITY  MAINTAINED.  153 

brother.  The  joy  of  communion  between  soul 
and  soul  had  its  birth  in  that  hour  when  thought 
responded  to  thought  in  the  utterance  of  a  com- 
mon speech,  and  the  first  bonds  were  knit  of  that 
mighty  Christian  union  which  all  the  powers  of 
the  world  and  all  the  vicissitudes  of  temporal 
history  have  been  unable  to  break  asunder."  ^ 

Not  only  was  the  fact  of  speech   appropriate ; 
equally    appropriate  was   the   substance    and  the 
manner  of  it.     The  speech   imputed   to  continuity 
Peter  is  like  him,  but   like   him   stimu-  ---*--«•!• 
lated,  intoxicated,  informed  by  the  spirit  of  Jesus, 
—  of  Jesus  the  man  whom  he  loved,  and  of  Jesus 
the  official  Messiah,  the  consummator  of  all  that 
had  been  preparing  itself  in  the  ancient  history  of 
the  Hebrew  race.     It  was  skillful  oratory  for  him 
to  assert  that  this  strange  phenomenon  was  a  ful- 
filhnent  both  of  prophecy  in  general  and  of   that 
particular  prediction  of  the  descent  upon  the  many 
of  the  spirit  of  prophecy .^     Moreover,  it  was  an 
exact  statement  of  the  fact  in  the  case.     As  the 
spirit  of  Jesus  was  the  perfect  expression  of   the 
ancient  Hebrew  spirit,  and  hence  he  was  the  ful- 
fillment of  all  that  was  specific  in  the  national   de- 
velopment, so  this  was  not  only  his  spirit,  which 
he  was  said  to  have  promised,  but  it  was  also  the 
ancient  spirit.     In  its  appearance,  novel  and  revo- 
lutionary as  it   assuredly  was,  the  true   historical 
continuities  were  being  maintained. 

1  Growth  of  the  Spirit  of  Christianity,  vol.  i.,  pp.  83,  84. 

2  Acts  ii.  lG-21  ;  Joel  ii.  28-32. 


As  soon  as  the  spirit  had  passed  out  of  Jesus 
back  into  ordinary  men,  it  found,  as  it  always  had 
found  before,  intractable  material  to  deal 
again^S'  with.  Impracticable  schemes  were  tried, 
^^  ^^^'  and  there  were  delays  and  hitches  in  the 
launching  of  the  regenerated  society.^  Even  with 
unity  of  spirit  unity  of  effort  was  often  difficult. 
The  first  division  naturally  came  along  the  line  of 
cleavage  already  existing  between  the  Hellenistic 
and  Hebraistic  Jews.  The  necessary  limitations 
of  the  apostles  made  them  incapable  of  administer- 
ing a  society  so  abounding  in  life  and  containing 
such  diverse  elements.  The  party  of  Stephen,  which 
gave  a  hint  of  what  afterwards  became  the  Pauline 
school,^  was  disposed  to  the  universalistic  policy ; 
while  the  party  afterward  known  as  that  of  James 
leaned  toward  a  more  exclusive  national  course. 
The  former  soon  became  the  better  organ  of  the 

1  Acts  iv.  34-37  ;  Yi.  1  f . 

2  The  Pauline  author  of  Acts,  though  his  history  may  be  partly 
idealistic,  had  undoubtedly  more  correct  notions  than  his  master 
as  to  the  genetic  continuity  between  the  original  Christian  group 
and  the  Gentile  type.  The  great  apostle  himself,  fervent  mystic 
that  he  was,  was  disposed  to  resent  the  suggestion  of  such  rela- 
tionship.    Gal.  i.  16  f. 


VARYING   TYPES.  155 

spirit,  and  gave  to  the  gospel  an  interpretation 
througli  wliich  it  could  enter  the  larger  life  of 
Asia  and  Europe. 

The  solitary  literary  monument,  however,  of  the 
Jewish  party,  the  Epistle  of  James,  is  enough  to 
dispel  any  doubt  that  the  spirit  was  as  fully  pre- 
sent with  that   party  as    it  was   with  the  other. 
Corroborative  evidence  of  this  is  seen  in  varying 
the  attitude  of  James  toward  the  Pauline  ^^^^^' 
party  when  issue  was  joined  among  their  follower s.^ 
Yet  it  is  not  difficult  to  see  that  the  spirit  could 
not  fulfill  itself  within  that  circle.     Judaism  was 
the   shell,    originally  secreted   by   the   spirit,  and 
under  which  it   had  best   worked  for  some   gen- 
erations.    Now  that  it  was  no  longer  needed  for 
protection,  it  became  a  prison.     Peter  characteris- 
tically vacillated  between  the  two  courses,  and  man- 
aged to  be  of  some  service  and  disservice  to  both. 
On   the  whole,  however,  the  spirit  found  him   an 
effective  organ,  and  his  Epistles,  written  later  in 
life,  reveal  his  final  rather  hesitating  conquest  by 
the  Paidine  ideas.     We  cannot  fail  to  note  also  a 
party  which  took  a  middle  course,  and  stood  ready 
to  give  an  account  of  itself,  —  the  party  to  which 
belonged  the  author  of  the  Epistle  to  the  Hebrews, 
attempting  to  reconcile  Judaism  and  Christianity 
without  breaking  so  obviously  as  Paul   did  with 
the    former,   and   yet   without   surrendering    the 
supremacy  and  finality  of  the   latter.     Here  was 

1  Acts  XV.  1-29. 


156  DIFFERENTIATION  NEEDED. 

perhaps  tlie  germ  of  the  Alexandrian  type,  which 
for  some  centuries  was  predominant,  and  is  again 
contesting  the  modern  supremacy  of  Paul.  When 
we  mention  the  Johannean  type,  of  a  little  later 
origin,  but  also  a  bright  tro23hy  of  the  spirit  in  a 
most  important  province  of  religious  thought  and 
life,  we  are  able  to  understand  how  manifold  from 
the  beginning  was  the  organism  which  the  spirit 
began  at  Pentecost  to  create. 

It  was  necessary  to  the  survival  of  the  spiritual 
movement  that  variations  of  type  should  quickly 
Differentia-  Spring  up.  A  uuity  of  exclusivencss 
tion  needed,  ^^^j^  ^^^^  defeated  the  mission  of  the 
spirit  at  once.  Its  life  was  of  too  high  an  order 
to  be  represented  by  a  monocotyledonous  germ. 
Differentiation  is  a  primary  life  function.  Had 
Christianity  failed  to  produce  a  more  or  less  tena- 
cious Jewish  type,  it  would  have  lost  touch  with 
Judaism  before  it  coidd  absorb  its  best  elements. 
Had  it  failed  to  develop  a  Gentile  type,  it  would 
have  failed  to  enter  into  the  greater  world,  where 
was  the  culture  of  the  age  and  to  which  belonged 
the  future.  Had  it  failed  to  produce  coalition 
types,  it  could  have  obtained  no  foothold  with  those 
large  and  important  groups  of  eclectics  who  were 
seeking  to  combine  all  the  elements  of  truth  and 
culture.  Had  the  Christian  spirit  not  been  as 
broad  and  hospitable  and  in  the  best  sense  oppor- 
tunist as  it  was,  it  would  have  been  untrue  to  its 
old  self,  the  Hebrew  spirit,  which  never  let  go  an 


ORGANIZATION.  157 

occasion  to  make  spoils  of  the  spiritual  wealth  of 
its  neighbors.  Nothing  of  the  life  of  that  day 
which  could  be  made  to  enter  the  life  of  the  future 
escaped  the  aggressive,  conquering  power  of  the 
new  spirit.  ''  How  Christianity  could  adapt  itself 
to  all  earthly  relations,  and  while  it  allowed  men 
still  to  remain  in  them,  yet  by  the  new  spirit  which 
it  gave  them,  the  divine  life  which  it  breathed  into 
them,  how  it  was  enabled  to  raise  men  above  these 
relations,  is  distinctly  set  before  us  by  a  Christian 
living  in  the  early  part  of  the  second  century,  who 
thus  describes  his  contemporaries  :  '  The  Christians 
are  not  separated  from  other  men  by  earthly  abode, 
by  language,  or  by  customs.  They  obey  existing 
laws,  and  conquer  the  laws  by  their  own  living.*" 
Yet  this  same  loftier  spirit,  which  could  merge  it- 
self in  all  the  forms  it  found  at  hand  while  it  coa- 
lesced with  all  the  purely  human,  came  into  conflict 
with  all  the  ungodly  nature  of  men.  It  announced 
itself  as  a  power  aiming  at  the  regeneration  of  the 
world."! 

In  these  efforts  to  capture  the  future  the  spirit 
had  a  noteworthy  success.     Following  the  channels 
prepared  for  it  by  the  pre-Christian  He-  organiza- 
brew  spirit  in  the  Dispersion,  its  energies  *'^"' 
flowed  into  every  region  of  the  world.     Enlisting 

1  Neancler,  History  of  the  Christian  Religion  and  Church,  pp.  09, 
70.  "  In  the  first  century  we  may  say  that  the  spirit  of  Christ 
was  the  pure  fount  of  the  knowledge  of  the  truth  for  all  his 
church."     Van  Oosterzee. 


158  ORGANIZATION. 

able  and  enterprising  men,  sons  of  their  age,  it 
entered  into  alliance  with  the  spirit  of  the  age 
itself,  and  pushed  its  movement  into  the  world's 
capitals  and  along  all  its  great  highways.  Begin- 
ning without  formal  organization,  it  invented  or 
borrowed,  first  from  the  synagogue,  and  afterward 
from  the  Roman  metropolitan  system,  until  at 
length  it  was  more  perfectly  organized  than  the 
empire  itself.  At  first  an  imioerium  in  imj^erio^ 
its  stability  and  efficiency  outgrew  that  of  the 
political  power  which  was  nominally  over  it. 
Whereas  the  organization  of  the  empire  was  weak- 
ening, because  it  had  almost  ceased  to  fulfill  its 
end  of  caring  for  the  interests  of  the  many,  in  its 
default  that  of  the  church  began  to  cover  and  pro- 
tect almost  every  province  of  life.  It  was  new, 
and  could  respond  with  the  more  freedom  to  the 
needs  of  the  hour.  It  had  a  loyalty  which  the 
empire  was  no  longer  able  to  command.  Its 
members  were  Romans,  but  they  did  not  hesitate 
to  declare  on  proper  and  sometimes  on  improper 
occasions  that  they  were  Christians  first.  Hence 
the  authority  of  this  organization  could  appeal,  as 
that  of  the  empire  no  longer  could,  to  internal 
sanctions.  Murder,  fraud,  adultery,  cruelty,  idle- 
ness, were  forbidden,  not  by  external  law,  but  by 
the  exercise  of  a  new  set  of  motives.^  Presently 
the  laws  of  the  Christian  communities  began  to 
win  the  authority  of   custom  even  outside  those 

^  Lecky,  European  Morals,  vol.  i.,  p.  4G8. 


THE  SPECIFIC  ELEMENT.  159 

communities,  and  hence  before  they  came  to  be 
embodied  in  statutes  they  had  already  produced 
wide  effects. 

It  was  the  spirit  of  this  Christian  organization, 
rather  than  its  conscious  or  avowed  aims,  which 
gave  to  it  its  power  as  a  creator  of  public  jj^g  specific 
sentiment  and  custom.  The  public  did  ^i^'^^"*^- 
not  understand  its  doctrines.  Its  own  understand- 
ing of  them  was  very  imperfect.  But  its  spirit 
excited  wonder  and  admiration.  "Behold  how 
these  Christians  love  one  another,"  was  the  senti- 
ment of  the  heathen.  It  became  apparent  after 
a  little  that  they  had  love  to  spare  also  for  others. 
Undreamed-of  charitable  movements  originated 
among  them.  One  of  the  first  of  these  concerned 
the  treatment  of  children.  The  horrors  involved 
in  the  Koman  practice  of  the  exposure  of  children 
need  no  detailed  description  here.  What  is  to  be 
observed  from  our  point  of  view  is  that  the  refor- 
mation in  these  matters,  to  which  Christianity  was 
the  chief  stimidus,  did  not  grow  out  of  any  specific 
teaching  of  Jesus  or  his  apostles,  but  only  out  of 
the  operation  of  the  spirit  of  that  teaching  and  of 
the  life  that  underlay  it.  Writers  on  the  subject 
continually  refer  to  this  fact.  "Nothing,"  says 
Brace,  "  could  be  further  from  Christianity's  spirit 
than  such  enormities."  "Under  Constantine  the 
spirit  of  Christianity  began  to  affect  legislation  on 
this  point."  ^     Lecky  also  speaks  of  the  abolition 

1  Gesta  Christi,  pp.  76,  77. 


160  CHARITY. 

of  infanticide  as  a  triumph  of  the  "  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity."^ It  was  through  the  exercise  of  charity 
in  the  establishment  of  foundling  hospitals  that  the 
sentiment  was  created  which  afterward  found  ex- 
pression in  effective  legislation.  Some  legislation 
had  been  enacted  before,  but  it  had  been  futile, 
because  it  did  not  represent  the  spirit  of  society. 

Much  of  the  charity  which  was  prompted  by  the 

Christian   spirit  was    open   to   criticism.     It  was 

purely  alleviative.     But  the  fearful  des- 

Charity.  .         .*'  ^  .  ,  .    ,  .,     , 

titution  and  pauperism  which  prevailed 
called  for  emergency  relief,  while  the  circmnstances 
of  the  times  made  anything  but  palliative  measures 
appear  hopeless.  As  the  spirit  of  humanity  grew, 
and  with  it  the  legal  restrictions  to  child  murder, 
the  foundling  hospital  where  no  questions  were 
asked  was  doubtless  the  occasion  for  great  evils. 
But  the  day  for  effective  social  reconstruction  had 
not  yet  arrived.  The  best  thing  possible  as  yet 
was  to  cultivate  the  spirit  of  humanity  and  charity, 
and  prepare  a  soil  out  of  which  might  spring  some- 
thing better  in  the  future. 

Lecky,  who  thinks  that  the  share  of  Christianity 
in  the  protection  of  infant  life  has  sometimes  been 

exaggerated,  declares  that  it  would  be 
amuse-  difficult  to  ovcrratc  its  influence  in  the 

suppression  of  gladiatorial  shows.  "  This 
feat  must  be  almost  exclusively  ascribed  to  the 
Christian  church."     "  Comparing  the  Fathers  with 

1  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  36. 


SLAVERY.  161 

the  most  enliglitened  pagan  moralists  in  their 
treatment  of  this  matter,  we  usually  find  one  most 
significant  difference.  The  pagan,  in  the  spirit  of 
philosophy,  denounced  these  games  as  inhuman,  or 
demoralizing,  or  degrading,  or  brutal.  The  Chris- 
tian,  in  the  spirit  of  the  church,  represented  them 
as  a  definite  sin,  the  sin  of  murder,  for  which  the 
spectators  as  well  as  the  actors  were  directly  re- 
sponsible to  heaven."  ^  Thus,  as  Jesus*  is  said  to 
have  predicted,  the  spirit  reproved  the  world  of  sin. 

The  influence  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  upon 
the  prevalence  of  suicide  was  most  marked.  In 
the  ancient  world  this  had  been  regarded 
as  at  the  most  a  venial  crime,  which  might 
sometimes  become  a  virtue.  It  is  one  of  those 
evils  upon  which  legislation  has  never  had  any 
noticeable  deterrent  effect.  The  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, by  putting  a  more  wholesome  tone  into  life 
in  general,  by  bringing  to  those  in  despair  a  sound 
consolation,  and  by  impressing  upon  men  a  sense 
of  the  sanctity  of  life  and  of  the  awful  responsi- 
bility for  rushing  unbidden  into  the  presence  of 
God,  succeeded  in  largely  reducing  the  practice. 

No  institution  has  been  so  prolific  of  evil  to  the 
race  as  slavery.     Its  effects  upon  master  and  slave 
alike  have  been  only  degrading.     Upon 
none  is  its  demoralizing  influence  more 
clearly  marked  than  upon  those  who  have  been  so 
far  debauched  by  it  as  to  imagine  that  they  can 

1  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  37. 


162  THE  CHURCH  AND  SLAVERY. 

find  redeeming  features  in  it.  The  apologist  for 
slavery,  chattel,  political,  agrarian,  or  industrial,  is 
one  of  the  worst  products  of  slavery.  And  slavery 
never  existed  in  a  worse  form  or  to  a  greater  ex- 
tent than  in  the  Roman  Empire  in  the  time  of 
Jesus.^  It  ruined  the  family,  it  loosened  every  tie 
of  morality,  and  insured  financial  wreck.  It  is 
not  likely  that  Jesus  came  into  contact  with  many 
of  its  worst  evils.  He  nowhere  says  a  word  in 
condemnation  of  it.  It  was  not  for  centuries  that 
the  incompatibility  of  slavery  with  his  teachings 
was  openly  declared.  The  apostles  were  as  silent 
as  their  master.  Yet  in  the  church  bond  and  free 
were  treated  alike,  a  most  signal  innovation,  since 
the  Roman  slave  was  not  permitted  to  engage  in 
patriotic  worship.  As  the  church  became  more 
and  more  the  source  of  ruling  ideas  and  sentiments, 
"  the  spirit  of  Christianity  began  immediately  that 
long  contest  with  human  slavery,  which,  under 
changing  fortunes  and  with  many  defeats,  has  been 
waged  now  for  eighteen  centuries,  and  may  be  said 
only  to  have  won  its  final  victories  in  the  middle 
and  latter  half  of  the  nineteenth  century."  ^ 

The  church  has  often  been  the  apologist  for 
slavery.  Her  record  on  this  matter  has  been,  as 
The  church  B^ace  says,  "  by  no  means  consistent  with 
and  slavery.  ^^  ^  development  of  tlic  Spirit  of  her 
founder."  ^    The  influence  of  this  spirit  upon  legis- 

1  European  Morals,  vol.  i.,  p.  277. 

2  Gesta  Christi,  p.  45.  ^  Ibid.,  p.  46. 


THE  CHURCH  AND  SLAVERY.  1G3 

lation  was  inconsiderable ;  little  more  at  first  than 
might  have  come  about  by  the  growth  of  humane 
sentiment  among  the  pagans.  But  by  introducing 
slaves  upon  perfect  equality  into  the  church,  and 
l^ermitting  them  to  hold  all  offices,  thus  giving  a 
moral  dignity  to  men  as  men,  regardless  of  their 
servile  condition,  and  recognizing  the  value  of  ser- 
vile virtues  like  humility,  gentleness,  patience,  re- 
signation, obedience,  it  introduced  an  element  that 
could  not  but  at  length  work  a  revolution. ^  More- 
over, it  was  regarded  as  an  act  of  piety  to  manu- 
mit slaves,  and  thus  the  number  of  freedmen  was 
largely  increased. 

Nevertheless,  it  was  fully  ten  centuries  before 
slavery  ceased  to  exist  in  Europe.  Many  material 
changes  had  first  to  occur,  and  the  occasion  had  to 
be  awaited  for  the  final  conquest  of  the  spirit  of 
Christianity  in  this  matter.  On  this  continent  the 
conflict  was  prolonged  until  our  own  day.  Our 
own  recent  history  makes  it  indisputable  that  it 
was  the  spirit  of  Christianity  which  rendered  it 
intolerable  to  the  moral  sense  even  of  those  who, 
because  of  ecclesiastical  apostasy,  were  alienated 
from  the  name  of  Christ.  Some  rejected  the  Bible 
because  of  the  false  gloss  which  had  been  imposed 
upon  it  in  respect  to  this  matter.  Yet  it  is  clear 
that  the  spirit  which  refused  to  deny  the  manhood 
of  any  man,  and  saw  a  brother  in  the  slave,  was  the 
spirit  which  came  by  immediate  descent  from  one 

1  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  72. 


164  PROPERTY. 

who  himself  never  said  a  word  nor  did  an  act 
directly  against  this  sum  of  all  villainies.  The  abo- 
lition of  slavery  in  Christendom  was  distinctively 
a  conquest  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus. 

The   problem    of   the   distribution    of  property 

could  not  be  grasped  until  slavery  was  disposed 

of.     It  would    have    been   as    unhistori- 

Property.  i    j*         t 

cal  tor  J  esus  to  have  comprehended  the 
modern  property  question  as  to  have  understood 
the  political  problems  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
He  avoided  personal  error,  and  instinctively  so 
dealt  with  the  cases  which  came  before  him  as 
to  illustrate  those  fundamental  relationships  be- 
tween man  and  man,  and  between  man  and  ma- 
terial things,  which  the  spirit  could  apply  to  the 
solution  of  property  problems  in  later  times.  It  is 
clear  that  the  heart  of  Jesus  was  inclined  toward 
the  poor.  But  no  remedies  were  then  within  reach 
on  the  large  scale,  nor  had  he  the  ear  of  those  who 
held  power.  There  is  sufficient  reason  to  believe 
that  had  circumstances  placed  him  in  a  position 
where  he  could  have  been  rightly  asked  for  a  deci- 
sion concerning  systems  of  wealth  distribution,  he 
would  have  been  as  unerringly  guided  by  the  spirit 
as  he  was  in  other  matters.  He  inculcated  the 
application  of  the  principle  of  brotherhood  to  the 
use  of  wealth.  He  could  do  no  more.  The  com- 
plications which  would  arise  in  the  practical  appli- 
cation of  even  so  simple  a  principle  he  was  not  in 
a  position  to  see.     The  reconstruction  of  the  pro- 


PROPEBTY.  1^5 

perty  system  at  that  time  was  out  of  tlie  question. 
It  remained  so  ;  and  all  that  the  early  church 
could  do  was  to  try  to  alleviate  the  distress  which 
grew  out  of  it,  by  the  distribution  of  charity. 

Yet  Jesus  laid  no  special  emphasis  upon  cha- 
rity ;  1  as  though  he  had  an  inspiration  to  the  effect 
that  one  day  it  might  stand  in  the  way  of  justice. 
In  answer,  however,  to  the  charge  that  the  Chris- 
tian spirit  of  charity  has  encouraged  dependence 
and  cultivated  improvidence,  it  should  be  said  that 
the  world  witnesses  no  such  pauperism  to-day  as 
it  did  when  Christianity  came  into  history.  If  it 
ever  does  again  witness  it,  it  will  be  not  so  much 
because  charity  will  foster  pauperism  as  because 
it  will  be  used  to  debauch  the  consciences  of  those 
who  ought  to  and  who  are  able  to  remove  all  pau- 
perizing tendencies  from  the  social  system.  As 
the  worst  effects  of  slavery  have  been  upon  the 
masters,  so  the  worst  effects  of  unwise  charity  have 
been  not  upon  the  recipients,  though  these  have 
often  been  very  bad,  but  upon  the  givers.^ 

Concerning  the  influence  which  the  spirit  was 
able   to  exert  upon   the   character  and  status  of 

1  Gesta  Christi,  p.  101. 

2  One  form  of  charity  which  began  early  in  the  history  of 
Christianity,  and  was  surely  prompted  by  its  spirit,  caused  little 
if  any  harm  and  measureless  good  to  both  givers  and  receivers, 
because  it  dealt  with  those  who  were  the  victims  rather  of  un- 
avoidable accidents  than  of  moral  or  social  wrongs.  This  was 
the  founding  and  support  of  hospitals.  Here  was  an  expression 
of  the  purest  and  truest  sympathy,  which  has  never  ceased  to 
thrill  the  heart  of  Christendom. 


166  WOMAN. 

woman  and  of  the  family  relationships,  it  is  diffi- 
cult to  speak  without  entering  into  the  controversy 
as  to  whether  it  was  Christianity  or  the 

Woman.        „  mi 

leutons  that  contributed  most  to  this 
end.  It  may  be  permitted  us,  therefore,  to  fall 
back  upon  the  authority  of  Lecky,  who  is  not 
partial  to  Christianity,  and  who  speaks  of  a  vast 
change  having  "  passed  gradually  over  the  world, 
under  the  influence  of  Christianity,  assisted  by  the 
barbarians."  ^  It  would  appear  from  this  that  in 
his  estimate  Christianity  had  the  larger  share  in 
this  change.^  Doubtless  the  Germans  were,  as 
Tacitus  ^  and  Salvian  ^  claimed,  far  superior  to  the 
degenerate  Eomans.  But  Koman  virtue  had  in 
the  early  days  been  as  high,  and  had  deteriorated 
instead  of  improving  as  civilization  grew  more 
complex.  The  Germans  also  were  unable  to  resist 
the  contagion  of  corrupt  civilizations,  and  would 
doubtless  have  been  utterly  lost  but  for  Christi- 
anity, whose  virtue  was  not,  like  that  of  the  Ger- 
mans, of  the  savage  type,  but  had  been  developed 
in  the  soil  and  atmosphere  and  in  the  face  of  all 
the  temptations  of  civilization. 

1  European  Morals,  vol.  ii.,  p.  364. 

2  A  certain  nameless  vice  which  had  been  eating-  out  the  vigor 
and  character  of  civilized  men  was  so  thoroughly  eradicated,  not 
by  the  barbarians,  but  admittedly  by  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 
that  its  very  existence  has  become  inconceivable  to  the  modern 
mind.  "  Our  Lord  himself,' '  observes  Brace,  ' '  never  speaks  of 
unnatural  passions.  The  very  spirit  of  his  personality  would 
banish  even  the  thought  of  them."     Gesta  Christi,  p.  36. 

^  Germania,  ix.,  xviii-xx.  ^  De  Gubernattone  Dei. 


THE  FAMILY.  167 

The  church  made  some  disastrous  errors  in  re- 
gard to  the  idea  of  those  relationships  which  are 
at  the  basis  of  the  family.     But  even  in 

-^    .  The  family. 

those  errors  it  was  gropmg  alter  pro- 
found truths,  and  it  is  a  question  whether  the 
conditions  were  such  that  it  was  possible  to  make 
progress  much  faster  or  by  less  circuitous  routes. 
The  exaltation  of  celibacy  was  an  extreme  reaction 
against  the  prevalence  of  a  sensuality  unimaginable 
to  modern  Christendom ;  and  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity was  no  more  responsible  for  the  excesses  in 
the  direction  of  asceticism  than  for  those  in  the 
direction  of  sensual  indulgence.  Jesus  himself 
was  no  ascetic ;  and  his  apostles  leaned  no  farther 
that  way  than  the  circumstances  of  the  times  re- 
quired.    Their  theories  were  sound. 

As  the  questions  of  property  distribution  covUd 
not  even  be  fairly  stated  until  chattel  slavery  had 
been  so  generally  abolished  that  slave  labor  ceased 
to  be  a  factor  of  imjjortance,  so  the  very  compre- 
hension of  the  problem  of  the  family,  and  of  the 
many  virtues  and  vices  which  grow  out  of  its 
imderlying  relationships,  has  to  await  the  complete 
emancipation  of  woman.  The  apostle  Paul  was 
not  far  out  of  the  way  when  he  was  disposed  to 
embrace  the  whole  problem  of  redemption  under 
the  single  category  of  emancipation.  When  men 
and  women  are  free,  and  have  learned  to  know  the 
meaning  of  it,  and  to  make  the  right  use  of  it,  the 
final  act  is  ready  to  begin. 


168  THE  CHBISTIAN  FAMILY. 

Although  the  solution   of  the  problem   of  the 

family  is  incomplete,  owing,  among  other  causes,  to 

the  incomplete  emancipation  of  woman, 

The  Chris-  „         .,  .      .     .        ,  ^  j.   , i 

tian  famuy.  y^t  the  family  as  it  is  is  already  one  oi  tlie 
monuments  to  the  redemptive  and  creative  power 
of  the  spirit  of  Jesus ;  and  this,  too,  although  Jesus 
himself  lived  a  celibate  life,  and  felt  it  necessary 
to  deprecate  too  strong  an  insistence  upon  mere 
family  relationships.  It  would  appear,  however, 
that  his  own  early  home,  and  others  in  the  circle 
out  of  which  he  came,  were  responsive  to  high 
ideals.  In  the  group  of  disciples  that  gathered 
about  him,  women  held  a  place  of  high  considera- 
tion. That  they  did  not  engage  in  aU  the  activi- 
ties of  men  was  not  because  of  any  want  of  recog- 
nition of  their  essential  equality.  They  came  into 
the  church  on  practically  equal  terms  with  men. 
In  enumerating  the  distinctions  which  had  been 
abolished,  the  apostle  could  say  not  only, ''  there  is 
neither  bond  nor  free,"  but  also,  "  there  is  neither 
male  nor  female."  ^ 

Doubtless  from  the  beginning  of  the  era  until 
now  there  have  always  been  homes  approaching 
near  to  the  ideal.  To-day  the  number  is  largely 
multiplied,  and  in  many  large  areas  of  Christen- 
dom the  average  home  is  worthy  to  be  charac- 
terized as  a  Christian  institution.  The  Christian 
home  is  often  more  or  less  independent  of  nominal 
Christianity.     The   spirit  of   Jesus   is  evident  in 

1  Gal.  iii.  28. 


NATIONALISM.  169 

many  homes  where  his  name  is  not  mentioned, 
and  it  is  absent  from  many  where  that  name  is 
professed.  The  ideal,,  indeed,  is  seldom  reached. 
Even  where  it  is  attained  in  the  internal  strnctiire 
of  the  home,  it  is  often  lost  in  the  case  of  the  rela- 
tion of  the  home  to  the  larger  community.  "  It 
may  be  said,"  writes  Fremantle,  "  that  the  family 
has  been  definitively  won  for  Christ,  so  far  as 
Christian  love  is  self-renouncing ;  but  so  far 
as  Christian  love  is  universal,  it  still  needs  the 
processes  of  redemption."  ^  It  is  devotion  to  the 
family  rather  than  to  the  narrower  self  which 
is  the  motive  for  the  apparently  selfish  struggles 
in  the  world  of  business.  Thus  the  combatants 
on  the  fields  of  the  fiercest  and  most  ruthlessly 
fought  battles  are  commonly  animated  by  a  species 
of  imperfect  unselfishness. 

It  is  not  a  part  of  our  plan  to  make  any  extended 
analysis  of  contemporary  histouy,  in  order  to  show 
how   the  spirit  of  Jesus  has  made  itself 

f,   1       .  \  ■,.  I.  »/.  ,  T        Nationalism. 

felt  m  modern  life.  A  few  words  only 
must  suffice  in  addition  to  what  has  been  said  about 
the  conquest  of  the  family.  The  spirit  has  been 
influential  in  starting  and  giving  character  to  na^ 
tional  movements,  which  are  among  the  important 
phenomena  of  these  times.  Only  in  Christendom 
is  there  to-day  such  a  thing  as  a   national  life.^ 

1  The  World  as  Subject  of  Redemjjtion,  p.  308. 

2  A  nation  is  a  spiritual,  a  race,  an  animal  organism.  Outside 
of  JCliristenclom  are  races.  In  Christendom,  the  tendency,  as  yet 
imperfectly  wrought  out,  is  to  nationalities. 


170  NATIONALISM. 

The  formation  of  our  own  nation  can  be  distinctly 
traced  to  the  Renaissance,  and  the  consequent 
resurrection  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  through 
the  translation  and  diffusion  of  the  Scriptures. 
The  men  who  formed  the  nation  were  themselves 
formed  by  the  Scriptures,  so  that  it  may  almost  be 
said  that  the  spirit  created  this  nation  through  the 
agency  of  its  specific  literature.  The  stimulus  to 
the  revival  of  nationalism  in  Europe  has  come 
largely  either  through  the  same  set  of  causes,  or 
less  directly  through  the  example  of  this  nation. 
The  movement  for  Irish  renationalization,  while  it 
does  not  spring  so  obviously  from  the  Bible,  has 
been  kept  alive  by  enthusiasm  borrowed  from 
America,  so  that  in  a  secondary  way,  at  least,  it  is 
dependent  even  upon  Scripture ;  and  it  is  a  safe 
prediction  that  before  many  years  the  Irish  will 
take  to  the  study  of  the  sacred  writings  of  Chris- 
tendom, as  the  Italians  have  already  done  so  deter- 
minedly that  the  papal  power  has  been  constrained 
to  give  it  a  tardy  approval.  It  is  the  spirit  rather 
than  the  letter  of  Christianity  that  contributes  to 
patriotism.  The  early  Christians  were  not  patriots, 
and  one  of  the  true  charges  against  them  was 
that,  while  they  made  excellent  soldiers  or  officials, 
they  had  no  attachment  to  the  government.  There 
was  the  same  reaction  against  patriotism  that  there 
was  against  the  family.  Yet  the  spirit  of  Christi- 
anity arrested  both  those  reactions,  and  renewed 
both  the  family  and  the  nation. 


INTERNATIONALISM,  171 

Instead  of  the  revival  of  patriotism  jDroducing 
fiercer  international  antagonisms,  as  tlie  thought- 
less would  predict,  the  growing  sentiment  i„teruation- 
is  one  in  favor  of  peace  and  mutual  inter-  *^'^"^* 
change  of  benefits  between  nations.  Wars  have 
arisen  from  race  rather  than  national  antagonisms, 
or  from  the  ambitions  of  the  few  working  upon  the 
animal  instincts  or  passions  of  the  many.  In  the 
nation  mere  animal  passions  are  subordinate  to 
spiritual  motives,  and  the  ambitious  few  must  have 
more  respect  for  the  will  of  the  many.  It  is  less 
than  a  generation  since  the  first  international 
arbitration  was  attempted,  in  the  face  of  universal 
skepticism.  To-day  it  would  be  next  to  impossible 
to  goad  the  English-speaking  peoples  into  war  with 
one  another.  The  mightiest  armaments  the  world 
has  seen  are  held  in  check,  no  one  daring  to  give 
the  signal  for  conflict,  lest  he  bring  against  himself 
the  enemy  he  fears  more  than  any  armies  or  navies, 
—  the  peace  sentiment  of  the  world. 

It  is  true  that  many  considerations  of  a  calcu- 
lating selfishness  have  influence  in  favor  of  peace. 
But  the  data  which  turn  the  result  of  such  calcula- 
tions in  that  direction  are  more  numerous  and  more 
weighty  than  they  ever  were,  because  of  the  opera- 
tion of  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  The  spirit  of 
brotherhood,  generated  by  migration  and  by  the 
help  of  the  international  workingmen's  conventions 
and  the  socialist  propaganda,  is  becoming  so  power- 
ful among  the  millions  who  must  recruit  and  sus- 


172  INTERNATIONALISM. 

tain  these  armies  that  the  time  seems  not  distant 
when  they  will  decline  to  fight  at  'the  command 
of  any  leader.  If  they  were  to  fight  to-day,  it 
would  be  in  a  merely  mechanical  way,  and  with 
no  mutual  hatred ;  and  the  strongest  motive  that 
would  animate  most  of  their  officers  would  be 
scientific  curiosity  as  to  the  working  of  recent  in- 
ventions. No  body  of  men  ever  entered  ujion  a 
great  enterprise  with  more  promise  of  success  than 
those  who  are  to-day  undertaking  to  formulate 
measures  for  universal  arbitration.  The  people 
are  coming  to  the  front.  The  people  are  already 
under  the  sway  of  the  spirit  of  brotherhood  ;  and 
in  proportion  as  their  power  grows  will  the  will  of 
that  spirit  be  obeyed  in  national  and  international 
concerns.! 

We  call  politics  corrupt ;  and  it  is,  measured  by 
ideals.     But  the  ideal  was  never  so  high  as  it  is  to- 

^  "  These  armaments  of  all  nations,  these  continual  menaces, 
this  resumption  of  race  oppression,  are  evil  signs,  but  not  signs  of 
bad  augury.  They  are  the  last  convulsions  of  what  is  going  to  dis- 
appear. The  social  body  resembles  the  human  body,  the  malady 
being  only  a  violent  effort  of  the  organism  to  throw  off  a  morbid 
and  noxious  element.  These  millions  of  armed  men  who  are  diill- 
ing  every  day  in  view  of  a  war  of  general  extermination  have 
no  hatred  toward  those  they  may  be  called  upon  to  fight,  and 
none  of  their  leaders  dare  declare  war.  An  agreement  is  inevi- 
table within  a  given  time,  which  will  be  shorter  than  we  suppose. 
I  do  not  know  whether  it  is  because  I  am  not  much  longer  for 
this  life,  and  that  the  light  from  over  the  horizon  already  affects 
my  vision,  but  I  do  believe  that  our  world  is  about  to  witness 
the  realization  of  the  words,  '  Love  one  another.'  "  Alexandre 
Dumas. 


TUB  CHURCH.  173 

day.  We  have  not  fallen  from  a  democracy  to  a 
plutocracy.  We  have  not  yet  been  an 
actual  democracy,  except  temporarily  in 
times  of  crisis.  Even  then  it  is  a  question  whether 
it  was  the  democracy  so  much  as  a  spasm  of  virtue 
in  the  oligarchy  that  saved  us.  It  is  probable  that 
we  are  more  of  a  democracy  than  we  ever  were  ;  a 
plutocratic  democracy,  indeed,  a  democracy  in  which 
the  many  are  ruled  by  the  money  motive  and  have 
their  own  poor  way.^  But  that  is  a  step  forward. 
If  men  could  be  freed,  even  to  do  wrong,  there  is 
hope  for  them.  The  spirit  of  Christianity  can  do 
little  until  it  has  set  men  free.  A  man  had  better 
have  a  vote  to  waste  or  sell  than  to  have  no  vote 
at  all.  Disfranchisement  is  a  denial  of  manhood, 
and  produces  the  meanest  vices.  The  spirit  of 
Christianity,  which  secures  men  the  ballot,  will 
not  cease  until  it  has  taught  them  how  to  use  it. 

Concerning  the  right  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  to 
make  conquest  of  social  and  business  relationships, 
the  conscience  of  Christendom  is  quick-  ^^     ^     ^ 

mi  1  1      ^^*®  church. 

ened  as  it  never  was  before.  Ihe  church 
is  waking  up  to  ask  with  a  new  seriousness  whether 
she  has  not  come  near  to  apostasy  because  she  has 
been  so  slow  in  insisting  upon  the  application  of 
the  gospel  to  all  spheres  of  life.  Her  official  re- 
presentatives and  organs  are  somewhat  disposed  to 
resent  the  promptings  of  the  spirit  of  penitence. 
But  it  is  a  rare  thing  in  history  for  the  official 
1  W.  D.  Howells,  in  North  Amer.  Rev.,  February,  1894. 


174  BUSINESS. 

part  of  the  cliurcli  to  be  tlie  living  part  of  it. 
The  church  cannot  do  without  its  organization. 
But  it  creates  and  carries  and  uses  this  organiza- 
tion if  it  can,  or  rejects  and  renews  it  if  it  must : 
it  is  not  created  or  carried  or  used  or  retarded,  ex- 
cept temporarily,  by  the  organization.  The  life  of 
the  church  is  not  to  be  estimated  by  the  saplessness 
of  the  dead  wood  with  which  it  houses  itself  or 
makes  its  tools.  That  living  minority,  growing 
larger  with  each  age,  which  is  to  create  the  church, 
and  the  world,  too,  of  the  future,  is  not  infallible, 
has  not  kept  pace  with  the  demands  upon  it  for  the 
Christianization  of  social  institutions ;  but  it  is  not 
guilty  of  the  fatal  error  of  imagining  itself  infalli- 
ble ;  it  is  penitent  because  of  its  failures,  and  is 
sincerely  asking  how  it  may  atone  for  past  neglect, 
and  find  the  right  path  for  the  future.  The  fact 
that  the  church  fears  she  is  on  the  brink  of  apos- 
tasy is  itself  the  work  of  the  spirit,  and  is  the 
best  promise  that  she  will  turn  back  from  that 
brink. 

While  in  business  relationships  that  partial  self- 
ishness which  seeks  the  family  rather  than  the 
general  interest  is  still  supreme,  its  su- 
premacy  is  more  in  question.  Moreover, 
common  honesty  is  far  less  uncommon  than  it  once 
was.  The  value  of  a  salesman  is  less  commonly 
reckoned  in  his  ability  to  overreach,  and  more 
commonly  in  his  ability  to  serve  both  seller  and 
buyer.     The  seller,  both  at  wholesale  and  retail, 


EXCEPTIONS.  175 

finds  it  to  his  interest  to  be  the  best  guardian  of 
the  interests  of  his  customers.  Fewer  bargains 
are  made  over  the  wine-glass.  The  commercial 
traveler  is  the  friend  of  his  customers,  and  is 
trusted  by  them.  The  tradition  that  he  is  a  hard 
case  is  destined  to  go  the  way  of  other  traditions 
which  have  ceased  to  represent  facts.  Nowhere 
outside  of  Christendom  do  men  trus,t  one  another 
in  trade.  Nowhere  else  can  a  child  be  sent  to 
trade,  or  goods  be  safely  ordered  on  sample.  The 
spirit  is  making  marked  progress. 

The  apparent  exceptions  to  this  are  accounted 
for.  In  new  businesses,  where  standards  have  not 
had  time  to  be  fixed,  unfair  dealin"^  is 

,.,     ,  1         <•  1  A  1  •     1     Exceptions. 

more  likely  to  be  round.  A  new  kmd 
of  manufacturing  business  always  shows  a  lower 
average  of  morals  than  an  established  one.  That 
form  of  commercial  transaction  which  pertains  to 
the  exchange  of  stocks  and  bonds,  futures,  options, 
and  such  like,  rather  than  tangible  and  actually 
transferable  wealth,  is  most  backward  in  the  de- 
velopment of  the  spirit  of  common  honesty.  The 
unscrupulousness  and  gambling,  which  once  reigned 
in  the  actual  goods  market,  now  hold  high  revel  in 
speculation.  When  this  form  of  commerce  shall 
have  had  time  to  be  brought  under  regulative  con- 
trol, and  instinctive  honesty  shall  have  come  to  have 
as  fair  a  field  in  it  as  instinctive  and  often  self-de- 
ceptive dishonesty  now  has,  a  change  will  appear. 
The  men  engaged  in  it  are  generally  above  suspi- 


176  INDUSTRIALISM. 

cion  in  otlier  walks  of  life,  and  when  dealing  with 
tangible  wealth.  The  nature  of  the  transactions, 
rather  than  the  characters  of  the  men,  removes 
this  department  of  business  from  the  sj)here  of 
influence  of  the  Christian  spirit. 

For  much  the  same  reasons  the  industrial  rela- 
tionship is  still  backward  in  the  manifestation  of 
Industrial-  *^^  spiHt  of  Christianity.  The  growth 
^^^'  of  the  Christian  spirit  of  manly  indej^eii- 

dence  among  employees  has  put  an  end  generally 
to  tlie  old  relationship  of  patron  and  client,  in 
which  the  employer  offset  tyranny  and  underpay 
by  charitable  aid;  a  relationship  which  was  a 
legacy  from  the  days  of  chattel  slavery  or  serf- 
dom.^ The  employee  is  disposed  to  resent  the  sub- 
stitution of  charity  for  justice,  and  the  employer 
in  turn  to  resent  this  resentment  and  call  it  in- 
gratitude. He  thus  often  gets  out  of  touch  with 
his  help,  and  thinks  ill  of  human  nature,  because 
he  is  no  longer  thanked  for  bestowing  with  one 
hand  what  with  the  other  he  has  taken  —  taken,  it 

^  The  absence  of  high  standards  of  honesty  in  the  real  estate 
business  also  grows  out  of  the  fact  that  the  systems  of  land-hold- 
ing which  are  intrenched  in  law  and  custom  had  their  origin  in 
feudalism,  and  have  been  evolved  Avith  no  regard  to  moral  prop- 
erty rights,  and  only  incidentally  conform  to  such  rights,  when 
they  do  so  at  all.  When  the  emancipation  of  land  shall  have 
been  added  to  that  of  men  and  of  women,  this  antinomianism  in 
real  estate  matters  Avill  come  to  an  end.  The  work  of  the  spirit 
of  right  human  relationships  in  this  sjihere  may  have  to  be  de- 
structive before  it  can  be  constructive,  but  it  will  surely  accom- 
plish its  ends. 


CORPORATIONS.  177 

is  true,  without  any  realizing  sense  of  its  injustice, 
since  he  happens  to  have  custom  and  law  on  his 
side.  Some  pursue  the  old  precedent  of  injustice, 
and  cease  to  offer  charity.  Others,  and  their 
number  is  increasing,  attempt  to  do  the  fair 
thing,  so  far  as  permitted  by  the  tyrannous  condi- 
tions under  which  they  themselves  live  and  work. 
On  the  other  hand,  the  employee  is  continually 
tempted  to  carry  his  suspicions  of  injustice  to  an 
extreme,  and  to  assert  his  independence  with  great 
unwisdom.  The  case  is  bad,  and  the  worst  crisis 
has  not  yet  come.  Yet  it  is  a  good  thing  that  the 
old  relationship  could  not  endure,  and  it  was  the 
operation  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity  that  brought 
it  to  an  end.  It  is  certain  yet  to  yield  the  peace- 
able fruit  of  right  relationship. 

Another  thing  which  has  brought  new  and  diffi- 
cult problems  with  it  is  the  unprecedented  growth 
of  corporations.  These  have  been  made  corpora- 
necessary  by  the  changed  conditions  *^°"^" 
brought  in  by  the  material  inventions  and  dis- 
coveries of  this  last  century.  These  corporations 
give  us  stockholderism,  which  is  a  species  of  absen- 
teeism, especially  liable  to  moral  irresponsibility 
and  cruelty.  But  the  corporation,  as  the  crea- 
tion of  the  people,  with  special  privileges  of  lim- 
ited responsibility,  should  be  correspondingly  lim- 
ited in  its  liberties.  When  the  public  realizes,  as 
it  is  now  being  compelled  to  realize,  that  it  has 
more  rights  and  responsibilities  for  control  in  the 


178  LITERATURE. 

case  of  corporations  tlian  in  that  of  individuals,  it 
will  be  found  that  the  corporation  will  become  the 
best  employer,  because  it  will  be  in  a  large  sense 
the  agent  of  the  public.  The  very  permission  to 
incorporate  is  a  public  franchise.  The  public  is, 
therefore,  a  partner  in  every  corporation,  and  en- 
titled to  know  its  secrets  and  share  in  its  man- 
agement. The  sense  of  this  is  being  quickened, 
and  the  new  social  spirit  is  leading  society  to  claim 
its  own.  Where  that  spirit  cannot  rule  it  strives. 
Where  it  cannot  bring  peace  it  brings  a  sword. 
Its  final  victory  is  certain.  The  creative  spirit  will 
breathe  the  breath  of  life  into  corporations,  and 
they  will  become  living  souls. 

In  literature  the  spirit  of  Jesus  exerts  a  wider 

and  more  powerful  influence  than  it  has  ever  had 

since  the  formation  of  the  sacred  canon ; 

Literature.  .  .  , 

and  whereas  that  was  intensive  and 
specialized,  this  is  extensive  and  generalized. 
Even  the  realism  that  is  in  some  respects  so  scan- 
dalous is  one  expression  of  the  spirit  which  counts 
nothing  common  or  unclean  which  pertains  to 
human  nature  ;  and  the  idealism  which  judges  it 
does  so  on  the  score  that  it  is  itself  the  truest 
realism.  The  spirit  is  taking  possession  of  learn- 
ing. The  passion  for  verifiable  truth  is  one  mani- 
festation of  the  spirit  which  saved  Hebrew  life 
from  the  mythological  extravagances  of  its  con- 
temporaries, which  kept  Jesus  from  pretending 
to  make  any  revelations  concerning  the  future  or 


SCIENCE.  179 

the  unseen  which  were  not  founded  upon  data  as 
accessible  to  all  as  to  himself,  which  prevented 
the  apostolic  writers  from  giving  way  to  grotesque 
fancies.  The  saneness  of  that  spirit  was  enough 
akin  to  the  scientific  spirit  among  the  Greeks,  so 
that  the  two  brought  forth  results  in  affiliation. 
The  motives  were  different.  The  Greek  sought 
truth.  The  Christian  was  more  ethical,  and  sought 
the  right.  Yet  they  could  pursue  together,  and 
the  moral  enthusiasm  of  the  Christian  spirit  car- 
ried forward  the  application  of  the  Greek  scienti- 
fic method. 

Unfortunately  the  scientific  spirit  had  to  do 
battle  for  its  rights  with  nominal  Christianity, 
and  even  to  find  its   best  agents  for   a 

Sci6nc6 

time  among  the  followers  of  Mohammed. 
But  Mohammedanism,  it  is  to  be  remembered,  es- 
pecially in  that  hostility  to  mythology  and  idola- 
try which  cleared  the  way  for  science,  was  an 
outgrowth  of  Hebraism  and  Christianity,  and  was 
in  some  respects  more  Christian  than  the  Chris- 
tendom of  its  day.  In  so  far  as  the  representa- 
tives of  nominal  Christianity  were  mistaken  in 
their  conflict  with  the  scientific  spirit,  they  have 
been  defeated.  In  so  far  as  they  were  in  the 
right  in  holding  the  pursuit  of  truth  a  means  of 
service,  they  are  being  vindicated.  A  dozen  years 
ago  educational  institutions  might  have  been 
divided  between  those  who  encouraged  learning 
for   its   own  sake,  and  those  who  sought  it  as  a 


180  THE  SACBED  LITERATUBE. 

means  of  establishing  foregone  conclusions,  which 
it  was  sui3posed  the  good  of  men  required  estab- 
lishing. To-day,  foregone  conclusions  go  a-begging 
for  supporters  in  Christian  institutions.  On  the 
other  hand,  truth-seekers  no  longer  keep  full  peace 
with  their  own  consciences  unless  they  recognize 
some  obligation  to  impart  truth,  or  to  use  it  as  a 
means  for  the  service  of  their  fellows.^  On  one 
side  is  a  larger  faith  in  the  inherent  healthfulness 
of  truth ;  on  the  other  a  deeper  regard  for  human- 
ity. No  chairs  are  being  founded  to-day  to  discuss 
the  relations  of  sacred  and  secular  truth.  There 
is  no  longer  any  question  as  to  their  relations  ; 
the  distinction  between  them  has  vanished. 

The  most  important,  perhaps,  of  all  the  crea- 
tions of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  we  have  passed  by. 
The  sacred  ^^^  ^^^  Same  rcasous  that  the  Hebrew 
literature,  gacrcd  literature  merited  a  separate  con- 
sideration, that  of  Christianity  should  also  be 
treated  apart  from  the  other  phenomena  of  the 
spirit  of  Jesus.  By  universal  consent  the  New 
Testament  writings  are  esteemed  worthy  to  stand 
as  the  superstructure  to  the  foundation  laid  in  the 
Old.  The  unity  of  this  Christian  sacred  literature 
is  found  in  its  centring  about  the  person  and 
being  infused  with  the  spirit  of  Jesus.     No  one 

^  Science  is  in  far  less  danger  to-day  from  religious  a-jjriori- 
ism,  than  from  the  desertion  of  the  fields  of  pure  truth-seeking 
for  hasty  application  of  scientific  results  to  those  services  which 
promise  commercial  rewards. 


THE  SACRED  LITERATURE.  181 

of  tlie  miscellaneous  bits  of  writing  which  have 
found  their  way  into  it  is  without  these  marks.^ 
The  New  Testament  literature  is  indeed  an  inci- 
dent, in  that  no  man  dreamed  of  producing-  a  body 
of  writings  which  should  rank  with  those  of  the 
Old  Testament.  Paul's  epistles  were  business 
letters ;  even  that  to  the  Komans,  which  came 
nearest  to  a  treatise,  being  still  a  letter  with  im- 
mediate practical  aims.  It  was  only  by  accident 
that  they  were  preserved.  The  Gospels  and  Acts 
had  more  the  character  of  books,  but  they  were 
for  contemporary  rather  than  for  far  future 
readers. 

The  theory  which  gets  rid  of  the  fortuitous  in 
the  formation  of  this  literature  by  the  idea  of  an 
overruling  Providence  is  not  one  which 

,  ,  Till  1  Neither  for- 

can   here  be  adopted,  because,  however  tuitousnor 
true   the   theory   may   be,   the    "  Provi-  tiai,  but  of 
dence "    which    it   postulates    does    not 
belong  in  the  category  of   genetic  causes,  and  is 
not  therefore  the  object  of   scientific  perception. 
Instead  of   a  providential  interposition,  however, 

1  The  most  insignificant  of  them  perhaps,  the  third  epistle  of 
John,  does  not  mention  Jesus.  Yet  it  uses  the  expression  "For 
His  name's  sake  "  in  such  a  way  as  to  indicate  the  supremacy  of 
that  name  in  the  writer's  interest ;  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus 
breathes  throug-h  the  whole  letter.  Wliatever  may  be  thought 
of  the  authenticity  of  Jude  and  2  Peter,  it  cannot  be  denied 
that  they  bear  this  mark.  Even  rabbinism,  whicli  was  in  general 
such  a  foe  to  spirituality,  and  which  finds  so  large  a  place  in 
James  and  Hebrews,  and  even  creeps  into  Paul's  writings,  is  there 
thoroughly  mastered  to  spiritual  uses. 


182  SUFFICIENCY  OF  THE  SPIRIT. 

we  may  fully  account  for  this  literature  by  the 
creative,  selective,  and  preservative  action  of  the 
spirit  of  Jesus.  This  spirit,  while  it  belongs  to 
the  world  of  phenomenal  cause  and  effect,  oper- 
ates, like  every  life  force,  as  a  species  of  provi- 
dence. It  is  to  be  remembered  that  Jesus  antici- 
pated the  intervention,  not  of  a  providential  but 
of  a'  spiritual  cause  to  produce  some  sort  of  result 
like  this  :  ^  precisely  what  result  he  doubtless  did 
not  himself  foresee. 

The  sufficiency  of  the  New  Testament  Scrip- 
tures for  the  end  which  they  serve  in  history  and 
Sufficiency  ^^  individual  experience  is  vindicated 
of  the  spirit,  ^iigj^  it  ig  understood  that  the  action  of 
the  spirit  is  not  directed  to  the  preservation  of  all 
the  material  for  a  complete  biography  of  Jesus  or 
a  history  of  the  beginnings  of  Christianity.  What 
this  literature  does  is  so  to  embody  and  transmit 
spiritual  potencies  and  the  spiritual  likeness  of 
Jesus  that  future  ages  never  fail  of  a  literary 
source  for  a  renewal  of  spiritual  energies  or  a 
correction  of  ideals.  For  this  purpose  too  much 
literature  would  be  as  bad  as  too  little.  An  un- 
wieldy mass  of  writings  would  weigh  down  the 
Christian  movement  like  Saul's  armor.  "  The 
sword  of  the  spirit "  ^  must  not  be  too  heavy  to 
swing.  For  the  use  which  it  serves  the  New  Tes- 
tament literature  is  abundant.  To  fulfill  its  spirit 
Christianity  must  be   a  popular,  not  an  esoteric 

1  John  xiv.  26.  2  Eph.  vi.  17. 


OLD  AND  NEW  TESTAMENTS.  183 

movement;  it  must  belong  to  the  many,  and  not 
only  to  the  few,  the  learned.  To  have  overloaded 
it,  as  Confucianism  was  overloaded,  with  canon- 
ical literature,  would  have  been  to  defeat  that 
purpose,  though  all  of  it  had  been  indited  by  the 
spirit.  It  would  have  been  too  much  of  a  good 
thing. 

The  continuity  between  the  Old  and  the  New 
Testaments,  constituting  them  practically  one  body 
of  literature,  should  here  be  remarked.  oidandNew 
While  the  Bible  does  not  possess  the  ^estameuts. 
character  of  a  single  book,  as  thoughtless  zealots 
sometimes  imagine,  it  is  on  the  other  hand  no  mere 
collection  containing  some  of  the  more  important 
literary  "  remains "  of  the  Hebrews  and  early 
Christians,  as  others  might  say.  Nor  is  its  unity 
simply  that  of  its  grouping  about  the  common 
subject  of  the  messianic  hope  and  its  fulfillment. 
There  is  a  continuity,  both  historical  and  literary. 
Not  only  does  the  same  course  of  history  run 
through  both,  but  the  Old  Testament  itself  was 
the  agent  which  formed  a  good  deal  of  the  history 
which  gave  rise  to  the  New.  The  whole  literature 
rests  solidly  upon  a  series  of  historical  events,  send- 
ing its  roots  down  into  history  and  drawing  up  in- 
spiration therefrom.  It  makes  and  is  made  by 
history.  The  literary  continuity  is  somewhat  as 
though  a  series  of  writers  passed  along  the  torch 
of  literary  inspiration  from  one  to  another  down 
the  ages.     There  is  a  sort  of  contagious  literary 


184  SPIBITUAL   CONTINUITY. 

atmosphere  from  one  end  of  the  Bible  to  the  other. 
This  becomes  the  more  apparent  the  nearer  we  ar- 
rive at  a  true  chronological  order  for  these  writ- 
ings. The  later  writers  wrote,  and  wrote  in  the 
way  they  did,  partly  because  their  predecessors 
wrote,  and  wrote  in  the  way  they  did.  So  marked 
is  this  literary  continuity,  and  so  strong  is  the  unity 
it  has  produced,  that  it  has  not  been  so  difficult  as 
it  otherwise  might  have  been  to  make  a  plausible 
pretense  of  calling  it  one  book.  The  language 
and  literary  tone  and  force  of  the  Old  saturated 
the  writers  of  the  New,  and  largely  determined  its 
literary  quality.  The  translation  of  the  Seventy 
was  the  connecting  link  through  which  the  Hebrew 
thought  learned  to  make  an  effective  use  of  the 
Greek  tongue  ;  and  thus,  though  in  two  languages, 
the  Bible  is  one  literature. 

But  the  Bible  is  one  literature  for  the  same  rea- 
son that  Hebrew  and  Christian  history  are  one  : 
Spiritual       bccausc  they  are  caused  by  the  action  of 

continuity.       ^^^     ^^^^     g^j^,-^^         rj^j^^     q^^     TcstamCUt 

was,  as  has  been  seen,  created  by  that  spirit.  The 
Greek  translation  of  it  was  instigated  by  that 
spirit.^  The  Christ  was  born  and  nurtured  through 
the  spirit,  and  lived  his  life  under  its  guidance, 
and  could  not  be  understood  until  that  spirit  was 
poured  out  upon  his  disciples  ;  the  historical  Chris- 
tian movement  only  began  after  that  event,  and 

^  No  other  literature  has  ever  exhibited  such  a  power  to  secure 
its  own  translation. 


MORAL   TONE.  185 

could  not  have  begun  but  for  it ;  the  occasions  for 
writing  the  New  Testament  books  were  brought 
about  directly  or  indirectly  by  that  spirit;  and 
the  writers  when  they  wrote,  the  redactors  when 
they  revised  or  edited,  the  compilers  when  they 
compiled,  the  people  when  they  demanded,  and  the 
canonizers  when  they  selected  and  rejected,  were 
all  under  the  influence  of  that  spirit.  The  Bible 
is  preeminently  the  product  of  the  Hebrew  and 
Christian  spirit,  the  spirit  of  him  who  is  called  the 
Christ. 

In  whatever  other  ways  besides  its  remarkable 
unity  the  Bible  is  superior  to  or  distinguished  from 
other  literatures,  it  is  also  for  these  in- 

.    .  X  1     floral  tone. 

debted  to  the  same  spirit.  Its  moral 
superiority  to  the  other  literatures  does  not  consist 
in  a  strained  mechanical  infallibility.  Its  moral 
maxims  may  be  matched  from  Confucius  or  the 
Talmud.  Its  writers  do  not  always  maintain  the 
absolute  moral  standard,  but  vary  downward  from 
it  toward  the  standard  of  their  times.  The  moral 
issues  of  slavery  and  polygamy,  modern  forms  of 
intemperance  and  gambling,  and  the  problems  con- 
nected with  complex  political  and  industrial  life, 
are  not  adequately  met.  Considered  as  a  prose 
document,  to  be  legally  construed,  the  Bible  is  un- 
equivocal upon  scarcely  any  point  of  morals  ;  and 
has  been  and  is  likely  again  to  be  quoted  upon  the 
wrong  side.  So  long  as  it  is  supposed  to  be  the 
repository  of  a  complete  code  of  morals,  it  is  an 


186  SPIBIT  OF  ACCUEACY. 

arsenal  of  proof  texts  for  that  class  of  reactiona- 
ries wlio  resist  moral  reform  and  blockade  moral 
progress.  Yet  as  a  moral  agent  the  Bible  has 
been  without  a  rival,  because  in  it  is  the  spirit  of 
perfect  moral  relationships.  Its  specific  moral 
maxims  have  their  value  in  the  fact  that  they  are 
cast  in  such  form  as  to  be  vehicles  for  the  trans- 
mission of  that  spirit. 

As  regards  the  reliability  or  accuracy  of  the 
Bible  in  history  or  science,  the  case  is  precisely 
Spirit  of  tl^6  same.  It  is  foolish  to  think  to  sur- 
accuracy.  render  the  inerrancy  of  Scripture  in  this 
respect,  and  still  cling  to  it  in  respect  to  moral  and 
religious  matters.  The  two  cannot  be  so  separated. 
In  both  cases  the  Bible  is  to  be  judged  in  compar- 
ison with  its  contemporaries,  and  by  its  spirit  and 
the  success  of  that  spirit  in  affecting  the  matter 
and  in  making  the  literature  an  instrument  for  its 
further  aims.  As  to  the  relation  of  Scripture  to 
history  and  science,  the  remarkable  thing  is  that  it 
is  so  little  at  odds  with  them  as  it  is.  No  other 
set  of  ancient  writings  could  have  stood  the  test 
of  attempted  harmonization  as  it  has  done  without 
losing  all  dignity.  The  Scripture  shows  in  these 
departments  not  so  much  less  ignorance  as  less 
error  than  its  contemporaries.  Its  writers  do  not 
know  so  much  more  than  the  others,  but,  as  the 
humorist  says,  they  know  less  that  is  not  so.  The 
Scripture  is  not  overloaded  with  masses  of  incon- 
gruous details,  the  product  of  a  riotous  and  super- 


FILLED   WITH  THE  SPIRIT.  187 

stitious  imagination  rather  than  of  observation.  It 
avoids  glaring  and  grotesque  blunders.  It  is  the 
most  fruitful  of  ancient  literatures  in  reliable  data 
for  history.  No  other  literature  sends  down  such 
strong,  thick  taproots  into  the  soil  of  history ;  and 
where  other  means  of  verification  are  wanting, 
these  roots  themselves  testify  to  the  depth  and 
quality  of  the  material  into  which  they  once  struck. 
Truth  is  as  much  greater  than  accuracy  as  poetry 
is  greater  than  proof-reading.  For  its  age  the 
Bible  is  exceptionally  accurate.  It  is  still  more 
exceptionally  truthful :  and  this  it  owes  to  that 
spirit  which  is  rightly  characterized  as  "  the  spirit 
of  truth." 

The  Bible,  however,  is  far  more  than  an  effect 
of  the  operation  of  the  spirit.  It  is  full  of  the 
power  of  the  spirit,  which  flows  from  it  ^nied  with 
as  from  an  infaUible  reservoir.  Unlike  '''''^''''^ 
the  scribes,  it  needs  no  credentials,  but  speaks  with 
authority  inherent.  It  can  be  let  alone  to  do  its 
own  work.  The  missionaries  in  Madagascar,  see- 
ing the  cloud  of  persecution  lowering,  hurriedly 
translated  the  Scriptures  ;  and  though  they  were 
murdered  or  expelled,  the  Bible  Christianized  Mad- 
agascar. If  it  be  sown  broadcast  over  the  earth,  a 
harvest  is  assured;  and  it  has  the  power  to  get 
itself  sown  broadcast.  Next  to  the  Bible  itself, 
perhaps  the  most  remarkable  literary  phenomenon 
in  the  world  is  that  of  its  crowding  itself  into  all 
languages,  even  where  it  has  to  invent  an  alphabet 


188  THE  BIBLE  AS  A  FORCE. 

and  grammar,  creating  literatures  where  none  be- 
fore existed,  and  thereby  bringing  a  historical  life 
to  many  tribes  that  appear  to  have  never  before 
had  any  other  than  that  natural  history  which  be- 
longs to  them  in  common  with  other  animals.  The 
Bible  is  a  conquering  and  creating  power ;  and  it 
is  the  spirit  of  it  which  gives  it  this  power. 

The  Bible  has  been  one  of  the  chief  actors  in 
many  of  the  world's  most  important  historical 
The  Bible  as  movcments.  As  the  Old  Testament  had 
a  force.  niuch  to  do  with  the  completion  of  He- 
brew history  and  the  bringing  in  of  the  Messiah, 
so  the  whole  Bible  has  functioned  as  an  imperial 
power  in  subsequent  history.  A  revival  of  straight- 
forwardness and  reality,  as  against  hypocrisy  and 
fraud,  has  always  been  connected  in  some  way  with 
a  translation  or  other  rehabilitation  of  the  Scrip- 
ture ;  and  then  this  newly  won  Bible,  and  the  men 
who  owed  their  strength  and  stimulus  to  it,  led  the 
forces  of  reform.  All  of  those  revolutions  in  which 
the  Bible  played  an  important  part  were  the  up- 
risings of  strength  and  truthfulness  and  freedom, 
against  unreality  and  enthroned  falsehood  and  emp- 
tiness. This  was  true  of  the  attempted  Polish  and 
Bohemian  reformations,  of  the  Wickliffian  move- 
ment, and  the  Huguenot  and  the  Lutheran.  It 
was  true  of  the  Genevans  and  Scotch  Covenanters 
and  English  Puritans.  It  is  true  of  the  effort  to- 
day to  emancipate  the  Bible  from  the  bondage  of 
dogma.     Whatever  criticism  may  be  passed  upon 


BIBLIOLATRY.  189 

any  one  or  all  of  these  movements,  or  upon  tlie 
men  who  led  them,  they  were  worldmakers,  and  the 
Bible  was  the  source  of  their  strength . 

The  specific  work  of  the  Bible  as  an  historical 
factor  has  been  to  reproduce,  in  other  and  later 
circumstances,  courses  of  history  having  Reproduc- 
the  same  fundamental  characteristics  as  ^'°"" 
those  with  which  its  own  production  was  first  as- 
sociated, to  put  the  same  creative  spirit  into  his- 
tory. Thus  the  several  marks  which  distinguish 
that  original  history,  in  so  far  as  they  were  caused 
by  that  spirit,  also  distinguish  these  movements. 
They  have  been  popular  and  human.  Their 
springs  have  been  in  the  common  life  of  the  peo- 
ple, and  they  have  looked  to  the  betterment  of  that 
life.  Moreover,  they. have  been  heroic,  both  in  the 
nature  of  their  achievements  and  in  the  characters 
of  the  leaders  they  have  raised  up  for  themselves 
from  among  the  people.  They  have  not  been  spo- 
radic, unrelated  to  other  courses  of  history  before 
and  after  them.  They  have  been,  like  the  Bible 
history  itself,  parts  of  the  organic  and  progressive 
history  of  redemption.  With  all  their  lesser  aims 
and  heroes,  they  converge  toward  one  aim  and  one 
Hero. 

So  important  a  place  has  the  Bible  held  in  the 
higher  movements  of  modern  life  that  it  is  not 
stranoje  that   the   reQ:ard   for   it   should 

.  -  .        °  .    .  Bibllolatry. 

sometmies    be    almost   superstitious,   or 

that  it  should  appear  to  many  to  be  the  sole  chan- 


190  BIBLIOLATBY. 

nel  through  which  the  spiritual  force  of  Christian- 
ity flows.  Such  a  belief  has  in  it  at  least  the  truth 
that  literature  is  fitted  to  hold  a  transcendently 
important  place  in  human  life.  If  ever  the  time 
is  to  come  when  the  corporate  mind  shall  be  a  con- 
crete thing,  a  reality  instead  of  an  abstraction  or 
generalization,  when  the  Logos  or  Articulate  Rea- 
son shall  have  become  incarnate,  there  must  be 
two  chief  modes  of  its  manifestation ;  and  it  is  a 
question  whether  the  one  mode  be  not  as  essential 
as  the  other.  One  of  these  is  an  individual  man, 
and  the  other  is  a  literature.  If  Jesus  be  entitled 
to  the  name  of  the  Christ,  the  Word,  that  is,  if  his 
reason  was  the  Z/ogos,  the  supreme  reason,  com- 
mon to  God  and  man,  and  if  he  was  at  the  same 
time  an  historical  personage,  subject  to  the  neces- 
sary limitations  of  a  genuine  manhood,  then  that 
Logos  could  not  so  far  universalize  itself  in  him 
as  to  be  entitled  to  the  name  of  the  Eternal  Word, 
until  it  had  found  its  incarnation  also  in  something 
more  than  an  individual  man,  in  something  in 
which  the  limitations  of  the  individual  are  tran- 
scended, and  he  becomes  an  element  in  the  world 
mind.  That  something  is  literature.  Upon  the 
basis,  therefore,  of  the  newest  science  of  mind,  it 
may  be  assumed  as  a  psychological  necessity  that 
the  incarnate  Logos  must  be  embodied  in  a  litera- 
ture as  well  as  in  a  person. 

Moreover,  in  the  light  of  the   part  which  the 
written  word  has  played  in  the  history  of  Christen- 


SPIBIT  AND  LETTER.  191 

dom,  it  is  hard  to  imagine  how  the  personality  of 
Jesus  could  exercise  the  sway  it  does  to-  spirit  and 
day  if  it  had  not  had  a  literary  embodi-  ^^"^'^■ 
ment  at  least  as  nearly  corresponding  to  its  per- 
sonal perfection  as  its  physical  embodiment  ever 
was.  The  Christ  of  the  text-books  may  be  a  meta- 
physical figment.  But  the  Jesus  who  is  worshiped 
by  the  people  is  a  literary  personage  if  he  is  no- 
thing else.  They  are  not  so  far  wrong,  there- 
fore, who  speak  of  the  Scripture  as  the  "  Word  of 
God  "  in  a  sense  nearly  synonymous  with  that  in 
which  they  apply  that  term  to  Jesus.  It  is  a  large 
truth  which  is  perverted  by  the  bibliolater.  The 
spirit  needs  a  letter.  The  revolt  against  literalism 
overreaches  itself  when  it  is  too  anxious  to  break 
down  the  letter  in  order  to  escape  its  bondage. 
The  science  of  physical  forces  began  to  make  pro- 
gress only  after  it  had  become  an  axiom  that  these 
forces  were  modes  of  motion  of  something,  and 
that  their  material  embodiment  was  coextensive 
and  coterminous  with  themselves.  The  science  of 
biology  was  held  back  many  years  because  it  was 
thought  blasphemous  to  teach  that  the  physical 
basis  of  life  is  complete,  that  all  life  is  something 
living.  The  science  of  pneumatology,  if  the  term 
may  be  allowed,  must  equally  insist  upon  a  com- 
plete material,  or  literal,  basis  for  its  spiritual  phe- 
nomena.i     There  is  no  such  thing  as  a  disembodied 

1  Locke's  tenet,  "Nihil  est  in  intellectu  quod  non  simnl  sit  in 
sensu,"  might  be  paralleled  thus:  "Nihil  est  in  spiritu  quod  uou 
simul  sit  in  litera." 


192  PLENARY  INSPIRATION. 

spirit  of  patriotism,  existing  without  patriotic  acts, 
or  men,  or  laws,  or  literature,  or  something.  If 
the  spirit  of  Jesus  be  a  real  fact  among  facts,  there 
must  be,  besides  other  embodiments,  a  literature  of 
it.  And  there  must  be  literature  enough  ;  the  lit- 
eral basis  of  the  spirit  must  be  commensui-ate  with 
the  spirit  itself.  If  the  Bible  be,  as  is  so  generally 
contended,  an  infallible,  that  is,  inexhaustible, 
source  of  spiritual  power,  the  secret  of  its  infalli- 
bility may  well  be  sought,  not  in  anything  mystical 
or  magical,  but  in  the  actual  detailed  facts  con- 
cerning its  books,  sentences,  phrases,  words,  and 
even  roots  of  words.  Language  is  rich  enough  in 
garnered  suggestiveness,  the  heritage  of  history,  to 
furnish  a  material  or  literary  basis  for  any  spirit 
which  can  operate  effectively  in  human  experience.^ 
In  the  presumption  that  the  literal  and  the 
spiritual  are  coextensive  in  Scripture  is  the  apology 
pieanry  ^^^  ^^^  dogma  of  plenary  inspiration, 
inspiration.     ^|^-^|^  f^^^^  j^^  ^^^^  Satisfactory  form  m 

the  Lutheran  teaching  that  the  written  word  is  it- 
self, for  its  purj)ose,  a  sufficient  instrument  of  a 
spiritual  power  inherent  in  it.  The  superiority  of 
this  over  later  Protestant  statements  is  that  while 
they  are  meant  to  affirm  more,  they  actually  affirm 
less,  in  that  they  rest  their  emphasis  upon  the  idea 
that  the  Scripture  is  an  effect  of  sj^iritual  power  ; 
and  by  stopping  there,  or  by  introducing  the  notion 
of  an  extramundane  agency  cobi^erating  with  the 

1  See  Max  Miiller,  Science  of  Thought, 


IMPOBTANCE  OF  SCBIPTUEE.  193 

Scripture,  using  it  as  an  instrument,  they  leave  the 
impression  that  it  is  a  mere  inert  effect.  The  Lu- 
theran teaching,  on  the  other  hand,  is,  that  it  is  not 
only  an  effect  but  a  reservoir  of  spiritual  power, 
needing  no  extramundane  assistance  to  enable  it 
to  do  its  work. 

Such  recognition  of  the  plenary  power  of  Scrip- 
ture as  an  embodiment  of  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity is  the  warrant  for  the  concentration  importance 
upon  it  both  of  religious  interest  and  of  «*  scripture. 
all  the  resQurces  of  scholarship  and  culture.  Were 
the  Bible  merely  an  inert  or  passive  product  of 
spiritual  activity,  such  interest  might  pall  or  ex- 
haust itself.  Were  it  less  fully  commensurate 
with  its  own  spirit,  the  emphasis  laid  upon  it  might 
be  overdone.  So  far,  however,  it  has  repaid  all 
the  labor  and  justified  all  the  rational  faith  which 
have  been  expended  upon  it.  The  apostolic  age 
would  have  failed  had  it  not  produced  such  a  liter- 
ature. It  might  have  succeeded  if  it  had  done 
nothins:  else.  Modern  civilization  could  recover 
from  the  loss  of  everything  else  which  the  Hebrew 
and  Christian  spirit  has  done  for  it.  It  could  not 
survive  the  loss  of  the  classic  literature  of  that 
spirit.  This  consideration,  however,  need  cause  no 
dread ;  for  that  literature  is  the  most  impregnable 
fact  in  the  world.     Its  loss  is  inconceivable. 

A  good  part  of  the  aim  of  these  lectures  has 
been  secured  if  they  have  succeeded  in  evoking 
the  power  of  spiritual  discernment  and  leading  it 


194  BECAPITULATION. 

to  perceive  this  spirit  as  a  part  of  the  phenomenal 
Recapituia-  worlcl,  especially  of  that  more  important 
^^°^'  side  of  it  which  pertains  to  human  so- 

ciety and  develojiment.  Before  leaving  this  part 
of  the  subject,  however,  it  will  be  worth  while  to 
rehearse  again  the  main  characteristics  of  spirits 
of  the  phenomenal  type,  and  observe  how  closely 
this  adheres  to  that  type.  To  say  that  it  is  a  phe- 
nomenon is  not  to  deny  that  it  may  be  more  than 
that.  It  is  simply  to  affirm  that  it  is  at  least  that, 
and  hence  that  it  is  a  proper  object  of  investigation 
of  phenomenal  science,  that  it  can  be  coordinated 
with  other  phenomena,  that  its  causal  action  be- 
longs to  the  general  category  of  cause,  and  that  its 
presence  and  potencies  in  no  way  interfere  with 
the  historical  continuities.  It  therefore  comes 
within  the  range  of  scientific  research  to  precisely 
the  same  extent  that  the  personality  of  Jesus  comes 
within  that  range.  If  scientific  and  critical  study 
of  the  life  of  Jesus  has  added  to  the  knowledge  of 
him  anything  of  value,  likewise  a  purely  scientific 
and  critical  study  of  this  spirit  ought  to  be  of 
value. 

In  treating  it  as  a  pure  phenomenon  we  have 
endeavored  to  avoid  the  error  of  regarding  it  as  an 
abstraction.  It  is  a  fact  as  objective  as  is  the  per- 
son of  Jesus.  It  is  not  a  quality  of  Hebrew  life,  or 
of  Jesus,  or  of  Christianity.  It  is  a  force  oi3er- 
ating  in  and  proceeding  from  them,  as  heat  from  a 
stove  or  light  from  a  lamp ;  and  it  is  a  different 


RECAPITULATION,  195 

tiling  from  tliem,  as  heat  is  a  different  thing  from 
the  stove  and  light  from  the  lamp.  It  is  imparted 
from  person  to  person,  from  person  to  book,  from 
book  to  person,  from  person  or  book  to  nation  and 
backwards  again  :  its  embodiments  and  manifesta- 
tions are  innumerable,  but  it  is  in  its  own  proper 
and  real  sense  distinct  from  them  all.  Yet  it  is 
never  so  distinct  from  them  but  that  it  is  dependent 
upon  them.  There  is  no  more  of  the  Christian 
spirit  in  the  world  than  there  is  of  the  Christ.  As 
life  is  a  living  thing,  as  fire  is  a  burning  thing,  so 
spirit  is  a  spiritual  thing. 

This  spirit  is  a  manifestation  of  the  relations  of 
personalities.  It  has  to  do  with  things  other  than 
persons  only  so  far  as  these  things  are  the  instru- 
ments of  the  interrelations  of  persons.  Whatever 
pertains  to  persons  therefore  pertains  to  it.  If 
the  boundaries  of  personalities  be  vague,  so  are  the 
boundaries  of  this  spirit.  It  is  not  always  easy  to 
distinguish  the  spirit  of  Christianity  from  mere 
animal  spirits,  the  fruits  of  good  digestion  or  san- 
guine temperament.  And  as  personality  is  but 
vaguely  determined  on  the  side  toward  the  brutes, 
so  it  is  not  limited  upward  toward  possible  person- 
alities in  the  unseen,  of  whose  existence  one  may 
have  guesses  without  being  able  to  surmise  as  to 
their  nature.  And  as  this  spirit  ministers  to  the 
normal  interplay,  not  only  between  persons,  but 
between  persons  and  things  or  sub-persons,  it  also 
ministers  to  the  guidance  of  persons  in  their  atti- 


196  RECAPITULATION. 

tude  toward  the  lowering  or  smiling  firmament  of 
the  unknown.  That  is  to  say,  it  creates  or  modi- 
fies not  only  man's  animal  and  other  material  rela- 
tionships, but  also  his  religious  attitudes. 

It  is  a  social  force.  It  exalts  the  individual  that 
he  may  be  a  better  unit  for  society.  It  controls 
society  that  it  may  be  a  better  environment  for  the 
individual.  As  the  spirit  which  characterized  and 
proceeded  from  the  normal  man,  it  is  the  spirit  of 
normal  social  relationships,  and  appears  to  be  des- 
tined to  establish  and  universalize  such  relation- 
ships. It  will  do  this,  not  by  bringing  persons  to 
a  dead  uniformity,  but  rather  by  developing  ex- 
ceptional individuality,  in  truth,  by  so  fostering 
individuality  that  there  can  be  no  one  who  is  not 
exceptional.  It  is  of  such  units  only  that  the  per- 
fect society  can  be  made.  When,  reasoning  from 
the  character  and  history  of  this  spirit,  we  seek  to 
learn  what  promise  is  contained  in  it  as  the  ruling 
element  or  force  in  the  world,  the  answer  is  "  the 
perfection  of  personality  and  of  personal  relation- 
ships, and  the  subordination  of  everything  else  to 
that  end." 


YI. 

The  end  of  the  operation  of  the  Christian  spirit, 
the  spirit  of  Jesus,  will  be  the  establishment  of 
perfect  personality,  involvino^  perfect  per- 

1        1       •  T  .  <>      n  1  •      T  mi       1  The  goal  Of 

sonal  relationships  oi  all  kinds,     ihe  hu-  the  spiritual 

1      1  T         -,  T  CI         movement. 

man  person  holds  three  classes  oi  rela- 
tionships: that  toward  nature,  the  physical;  that 
toward  other  men,  the  social ;  and  that  toward  the 
unseen  world,  concerning  which  it  is  impossible 
to  know  in  the  same  way  as  regards  the  others 
whether  it  is  most  nearly  a  physical  or  most  nearly 
a  personal  relationship.  This  relationship  to  the 
unseen  world,  if  it  be  personal,  is  the  religious 
relationship. 

The  Hebrew  spirit  entered  into  history  as  a  so- 
cial, or,  as  it  is  more  generally  called,  an  ethical 
force.  It  concerned  itself  with  conduct,  -rjje  gpi^jt  a 
which,  as  Matthew  Arnold  used  to  love  ""^'^^  ^^"''• 
to  iterate,  is  three  fourths  of  life.  It  demanded 
that  this  three-fourth  interest,  as  it  were,  should 
dominate,  and  that  the  relation  to  nature  and  to 
the  unseen  should  be  determined  by  it,  that  the  so- 
cial relationships  should  ride  both  the  physical  and 
the  religious.  This  was  no  usurpation  in  the  sphere 
of  the  religious,  for  it  had  to  reform  religious  atti- 


198  THE  SPIBIT  A  MORAL  FORCE. 

tildes,  which  had  themselves  actually  been  deter- 
mmed  neither  by  social  nor  religious,  but  by  physi- 
cal or  animal  considerations,  or  by  social  conditions 
which  themselves  were  so  determined.  It  was  the 
interest  of  conduct  rather  than  of  truth  that  ban- 
ished mythology  from  nature,  and  condemned 
witchcraft  and  necromancy,  and  ignored  the  pseu- 
do-sciences, and  taught  the  best  Hebrew  mind  to 
look  upon  nature  as  a  mechanism  undistracted 
by  the  caprices  of  personalities.  The  desire  for 
wholesome  human  relationships  brought  about  an 
exceptionally  wholesome  attitude  toward  nature. 
The  Hebrew  spirit,  being  one  of  normal  personal 
relationships,  produced  an  instinct  of  purity  which 
looked  upon  the  intercourse  of  human  persons  with 
demi-gods,  or  with  those  who  had  passed  out  of  the 
sphere  of  the  visible,  as  uncanny  and  unclean.^  It 
was  felt  that  man  was  in  no  sense  the  companion 
of  nature,  or  of  those  parts  of  it  which  had  not 
risen  to  the  personal  plane.  He  was  its  lord,  and 
his  proper  companionshi})  was  only  with  his  own 
species,  and  sin  came  in  when  he  held  converse  or 

^  The  mythological  gods  were  monsters  growing  out  of  primi- 
tive chaos,  and  hence  part  of  nature  itself.  There  is  no  reason 
to  think  that  the  beings  called  "  sons  of  God,"  in  Gen.  vi.  2,  were 
thought  of  as  different  from  them.  The  serpent  of  Eden  was 
probably  a  mere  animal  divinity  or  jinn.  The  Hebrew  God  was 
conceived  of  as  in  a  wholly  different  category,  like  Plato's  God. 
In  this  sense  Philo  was  right  when  he  identified  the  thought  of 
Plato  and  Moses.  Only  Plato  was  ruled  by  the  truth-seeking  and 
Moses  by  the  right-seeking  spirit ;  one  was  scientific,  the  other 
ethical,  and  they  reached  much  the  same  goal. 


A  RELIGIOUS  FORCE.  199 

commerce  with  the  lower  animals  or  with  demi- 
gods. The  Hebrew  attitude  toward  nature,  so 
much  like  that  of  modern  science,  was  produced 
by  the  sense  of  the  fundamental  importance  and 
rightful  supremacy  of  human  personality,  and  the 
value  of  human  relationships,  to  which  nature  was 
to  minister.  Thus  it  was  the  social  spirit  which 
determined  it,  declaring  that  the  known  universe 
belonged  to  man  and  not  man  to  it.  Buckle  clas- 
sifies humanity  into  the  European  and  the  Asiatic. 
In  Europe,  he  says,  man  has  power  over  nature ; 
in  Asia  nature  has  power  over  man.  The  Hebrew 
spirit  of  lordship  over  nature  developed  in  Asia 
as  a  protest  against  the  prevailing  tendency,  and 
through  Christianity  it  has  secured  to  the  Euro- 
pean man  his  ascendency. 

But  the  same  spirit  limited  itself  in  its  affirma- 
tion of  the  superiority  of  man.  Man  could  become 
lord  of  nature,  but  not  of  the  Power  be-  ^  religious 
hind  nature,  from  which  both  man  and  ^^^^^' 
nature  came.  For  it  cannot  be  denied  that  man 
is  a  derived  and  dependent  being;  and  to  have 
depersonified  wholly  the  non-human  would  have 
been  to  give  to  man  an  impersonal  origin,  like  the 
mythological  gods,  and  to  make  him  dependent 
upon  an  impersonal  power  from  which  he  came  and 
to  which  he  must  return.  This  the  Hebrew  spirit 
could  not  tolerate,  because  it  was  inconsistent  with 
the  dignity  and  importance  attributed  to  human 
personality.     It  therefore  wrought  out  the  thought 


200  A  BELIGIOUS  FORCE. 

of  one  God,  whose  nature  was,  like  man's,i  personal 
and  capable  of  personal  relationships,  who  was  the 
author  of  nature  and  of  man,  and  who  had  ordained 
nature  for  man's  use.  Whatever  other  gods  might 
exist  had  no  proper  relations  with  men,  and  their 
worship  was  a  species  of  uncleanness.  Thus  it  was 
the  spirit  which  exalted  personality,  and  personal 
relationships  which  produced  Hebrew  henotheism,^ 
and  then  further  evolved  it  into  monotheism. 
There  came  to  be  for  them^  but  one  God,  the 
almighty  and  immutable  creator  of  all  things  visi- 
ble and  invisible,  between  whom  and  man  nature 
was  a  mere  medium  of  intercourse,  itself  only  an 
inert  and  unconscious  thing.  While  on  one  hand 
nature  was  wholly  depersonified,  on  the  other  hand 
it  was  made  the  organ  for  the  expression  of  a  su- 
preme ideal  personality.  Without  any  knowledge 
of  or  any  interest  in  physical  science,  prompted 
only  by  the  spirit  of  the  right  human  relationships, 
the  Hebrew  came  to  hold  an  attitude  toward  nature 
which  cannot  be  impugned  by  science  ;  for  it  is  not 
the  one  immutable  God*  of  the  Hebrews  which 
science  quarrels  with,  but  conflicting  gods,  or  one 
God  who  is  fickle  and  overturns  his  own  plans. 

1  Anthropomorphism  was  justified,  since  the  alternative  was  to 
think  God  as  less  noble  than  man,  against  which  the  social  inter- 
est would  protest.  See  Piepenbring,  Theology  of  Old  Testament^ 
pp.  96-99. 

2  Ihid.,  pp.  92-96.  ^  1  Cor.  viii.  5,  6. 

*  Moral  immutability  seems  to  have  been  the  fundamental 
attribute  of  Jehovah.     Piepenbring,  Theol.  of  O.  T.,  pp.  101,  102. 


MIRACLES.  201 

The  characteristic  thing  in  the  Hebrew  literature 
is  not  that  there  are  a  few  instances  where  the 
principle  of  divine  transcendence  and  natural  uni- 
formity is  not  consistently  carried  out, 

111  1  p  T      •       •         1  •       Miracles. 

but  that  there  are  so  tew.  It  is  m  this 
that  the  influence  of  the  spirit  is  shown.  More- 
over the  cases  in  which  the  best  of  that  literature 
permits  the  occurrences  of  interventions  is  where 
some  national  crisis  or  the  appearance  of  some 
great  personality  gives  it  a  plausible  excuse  in  the 
social  interest.  The  sacred  writers  would  not  have 
objected  on  scientific  or  philosophical  grounds  to 
any  number  of  miracles.  Yet  as  a  matter  of  fact 
the  only  point  at  which  any  considerable  number 
of  them  are  recorded  in  the  Scriptures  is  in  con- 
nection with  the  personality  of  Jesus.  It  is  in 
accordance  with  the  emphasis  which  is  placed  upon 
personality,  and  especially  upon  a  personality  which 
stands  at  the  head  of  the  race,  that  he  should  have 
a  greater  mastery  over  nature  than  others.  It  is 
a  trite  observation  that  the  miracles  of  Jesus  all 
have  an  ethical  motive.  They,  therefore,  if  any, 
would  come  under  that  law  of  the  Hebrew  spirit 
which  declares  the  supreme  importance  of  human 
interests  and  the  subordination  of  nature. 

Yet  here  the  question  wiU  be  asked  whether  it 
is  ethically  good  that  Jesus  should  mas- 
ter nature,  even  for  the  benefit  of  others,  mastery  of 
by    disobeying    laws    which    all    other 
men  have  to  reach  their  ends  by  discovering  and 


202         SPIRITUAL  MASTEBY  OF  JESUS. 

heeding.  The  spirit  seems  to  have  taken  that 
also  into  account ;  for,  on  his  own  witness,  he, 
guided  by  the  spirit,^  declined  to  found  his  king- 
dom uj)on  any  such  mastery,  and  deprecated  the 
disposition  of  men  to  make  his  miracles  the  basis 
of  belief  in  him ;  while  the  best  attested  of  these 
miracles,  those  of  the  cure  of  the  demoniacs  and 
of  diseases  which  have  a  nervous  or  psychical 
origin,  are  explained  by  the  power  of  a  strong  and 
symj^athetic  personality  to  touch  in  such  cases  the 
secret  sjDrings  of  natural  causation.  It  was  the 
mastery  which  Jesus  had  in  the  realm  of  sj^irit, 
that  is  of  personal  relationships  and  character, 
which  gave  him  his  chief  wonder-working  power. 
While  he  himself  seemed  to  be  unaware  of  a 
limit  to  his  power  to  work  miracles,  except  his 
own  choice,  and,  significantly,  in  some  cases  the 
faith  of  the  subjects,  yet  he  was  withheld  from 
the  mistake  of  unduly  testing  that  power  because 
he  was  so  unerringly  guided  by  the  spirit.  It 
was  not  because  he  thought  he  could  not,  but 
because  he  thought  he  ought  not,  that  he  did  not 
go  further  in  the  attempt  to  interfere  with  nature. 
The  social  spirit  produced  a  sanity  very  similar 
to  that  which  might  have  been  produced  by  the 
scientific  spirit.  When  men  come  to  be  guided 
as  unerringly  as  was  Jesus  by  the  spirit  of  right 
human  relationships,  they  will  come  to  act  much 
as   he   did   toward  nature.     Moved  by  pity  and 

1  Matt.  iv.  1 ;  Mark  i.  12  ;  Luke  iv.  1. 


SCIENCE  AND   THE  SPIRIT.  203 

love,  they  will  make  otherwise  impossible  con- 
quests over  nature.  This  is  the  spirit  which  so 
continually  prompts  physicians  and  nurses  to  al- 
most superhuman  efforts  or  risks  or  endurances. 
"  Greater  works  than  these  shall  he  do,"  said 
Jesus,  "because  I  go  to  my  Father,"  ^  that  is, 
"  because  I  leave  men  to  the  guidance  and  stimu- 
lus of  my  spirit." 

It  is  not  to  be  overlooked  that  a  great  part  of 
the  scientific  conquest  of  nature  has  found  its 
incentives  in  the  Christian  spirit.  In  science  and 
the  progress  of  medicine  and  surgery  the  ^^^  '^'"*- 
spirit  of  pure  science  has  doubtless  often  pre- 
vailed, as  well  as  that  of  worldly  ambition  or 
avarice  at  times;  yet  even  here  comparatively 
little  would  have  been  accomplished  but  for  the 
pressure  of  demand  upon  these  sciences  by  the 
spirit  of  human  affection  .2  Most  persons  employ 
a  physician  more  quickly  for  those  they  love  than 
for  themselves;  while  the  founding  and  support 
of  hospitals,  which  have  contributed  so  much  to 
the  advancement  of  scientific  healing,  is  very 
notably  a  work  of  the  Christian  spirit.  Foremost 
among   explorers  and  pioneers  have  always  been 

1  John  xiv.  12. 

2  "  It  is  not  mind,  except  within  the  narrow  limits  of  this  defi- 
nition, that  achieves  the  vast  results  which  civilization  presents, 
and  which,  it  must  be  admitted,  could  not  be  achieved  without  it. 
It  is  the  great  social  forces  which  we  have  been  passing  in  review 
that  have  accomplished  all  this."  Lester  Ward,  Dynamical 
Sociology,  vol.  i.,  p.  698. 


204     KNOWLEDGE  THE  SERVANT  OF  LOVE, 

missionaries,  and  they  have  contributed  largely 
to  geography,  geology,  meteorology,  archaeology, 
philology,  ethnography,  in  fact  to  all  the  sciences.^ 
Imj)ortant  among  explorers  and  pioneers  also  is 
the  home-seeker  who  is  animated  by  the  Christian 
spirit.  In  the  pursuance  of  the  social  rather  than 
the  scientific  aim  the  Hebrew  and  Christian  spirit 
tended  to  turn  away  from  mythology  and  to  seek 
pure  knowledge,  because  it  was  found  to  be  more 
effective  for  purposes  of  mastery  over  nature. 
While  it  has  thus  made  knowledge  a  means  rather 
than  an  end,  and  hence  cannot  be  called  scientific, 
it  has  served  the  cause  of  science  by  bringing 
man  into  a  wholesome  attitude  toward  nature,  by 
making  science  a  trained  servant. 

Where  it  is  plain  that  science  is  a  servant,  that 

it   is   better   suited   than   anything   else   for    the 

furtherance  of  ends  sought  by  the  s^^ner- 

Knowledge  .         .  .      ,.       °  .  .  . 

tiie  servant  ous  mstmcts,  prcjudicc  agaiust  it  gives 
way.  Persons  will  unite  in  the  suj)port 
of  a  hospital  where  the  strictest  scientific  methods 
are  applied,  and  will  insist  upon  such  methods ; 
yet  these  same  persons  will  not  support  a  school 
where  scientific  methods  are  used  in  the  study  of 
the  Bible,  until  it  becomes  evident  to  them  that 
these  methods  will  serve  better  than  others  the 
social  aims  which  they  cherish,  usually  aims  that 
have  to  do  with  the  supposed  good  of  their  chil- 
dren.    That  the  scientific  spirit  should  be  subor- 

1  See  Missions  and  Science,  Thomas  Laurie. 


KNOWLEDGE  THE  SERVANT  OF  LOVE.      205 

dinate  to  the  social,  that  knowledge  should  be 
sought  for  other  than  its  own  sake,  is  regarded  by 
the  scientific  man  as  a  most  dangerous  doctrine. 
Yet,  dangerous  or  not,  "  truth  for  love's  sake  "  is 
the  law  of  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  He  who 
is  thoroughly  swayed  by  that  spirit  will  seek  truth 
and  avoid  error  as  earnestly  and  as  skillfully  as 
though  he  sought  truth  for  its  own  sake.  He  will 
have  a  supreme  faith  in  truth  as  more  wholesome 
than  error.  He  will  discern  indeed  that  error  is 
deadly.  Nominal  Christianity  has  gone  wrong 
in  this  respect  less  for  want  of  love  of  truth  than 
for  want  of  faith  in  it.  It  has  been  afraid  of 
truth,  has  thought  it  safer  at  times  to  follow  error 
and  do  untruth  that  good  might  come.  It  has 
also  gone  astray  through  an  excess  of  zeal  for 
particular  statements  of  truth,  "  The  Truth,"  as 
it  has  been  called.  The  lapses  into  superstition 
and  mythology  and  obscurantism,  however,  have 
been  in  spite  of  rather  than  because  of  the  spirit 
of  Christianity.  It  may  usually  be  questioned 
whether  these  evils  would  not  have  been  far  worse 
had  Christianity  had  nothing  to  do  with  the  eras 
when  they  prevailed.  On  the  whole,  humanitar 
rianism  has  gone  hand  in  hand  with  intelligence 
and  with  the  encouragement  of  true  learning.^ 

1  Out  of  the  difficulty  of  finding  a  right  adjustment  in  this 
matter  grew  that  sad  controversy  between  Charles  King'sley  and 
Father  Newman,  in  the  course  of  which  the  former  accused  the 
latter  of  want  of  sincerity,  saying-  that  "  Truth  for  its  own  sake 
had  never  been  a  virtue  of  the  Roman  clerg^y.     Father  Newman 


206  immobtjLlity. 

In  banishing  mytliology  and  outlawing  necro- 
mancy, the  Hebrew  S23irit  went  none  too  far.  Yet 
Immortal-  ^^^re  again,  as  in  the  depersonifying  of 
**^'  nature,  there   was   a   limit.     Wholly  to 

informs  ns  that  it  need  not  be,  and  on  the  whole  ought  not  to 
be."  The  inference  was  that  Newman  justified  the  tolerance  or 
fostering  of  error  or  the  use  of  prevarication,  the  sin  which  is 
expressed  to  the  Protestant  mind  in  the  term  "Jesuitism."  All 
the  world  loves  Kingsley,  and  refuses  to  think  that  he  was  not 
the  sincerer  and  completer  man  of  the  two.  His  indignation 
against  what  he  honestly  believed  to  be  the  coixrse  of  Newman 
was  righteous  and  noble.  Yet  Newman  was  logically  right  in 
saying  that  truth  for  its  own  sake  ought  not  to  be  the  distinctive 
virtue  of  the  Koman  or  any  other  clergy.  The  clergy  exist  not 
primarily  for  scientific  but  for  redemptive  purposes.  To  them 
truth  is  "in  order  to  salvation."  Dangerous  indeed  is  such  a 
principle.  Error  is  liable  to  be  protected  by  it  or  truth  post- 
poned "  in  order  to  salvation  ;  "  and  salvation  is  liable  to  become 
identified  with  the  interests  of  the  church  or  the  society  of 
Loyola,  and  truth  made  the  servant  of  these.  Now  truth  cannot 
be  made  the  servant  of  any  institution,  of  church  or  state  or 
family.  The  only  thing  more  sacred  or  more  powerful  than 
truth  is  love,  not  as  represented  in  any  institution,  but  as  repre- 
sented in  the  spirit  of  di^dne  sonship  and  human  brotherhood. 
Newman  failed  to  see  that,  as  very  many  men  to-day  outside  the 
Roman  communion  fail  as  utterly  to  see  it.  Kingsley,  royal 
lover  as  he  was,  while  he  did  valiant  battle  for  "  truth  for  truth's 
sake,"  himself  has  fallen  imder  condemnation  of  his  own  descen- 
dants for  having,  as  the  charge  was,  loved  his  faith  and  his 
children  so  much  that  he  taught  them  that  faith  after  it  had 
lost  its  hold  upon  his  own  reason.  It  is  a  bitter  arraignment, 
and  certainly  unjust  as  well  as  vmfilial.  At  the  most,  Kingsley 
had  lost  sight  of  the  foundations.  He  had  never  been  convinced 
of  their  non-existence.  The  spirit  of  right  human  relationships 
held  him  faithful  to  that  which  he  could  not  scientifically  verify. 
It  was  an  unconscious  application  of  Newman's  dangerous  but 
necessary  principle. 


SPIRITUAL  PURITY,  207 

ignore  the  hope  of  immortality  was,  even  from 
its  own  point  of  view,  an  extreme ;  for  was  not 
this  hope  founded  upon  an  assertion  of  the  value 
of  personality  and  the  inherent  sacredness  and 
permanence  of  the  personal  relationships?  The 
taboo,  however,  placed  upon  this  doctrine  in  the 
earlier  Hebrew  history  is  abundantly  justified 
as  a  practical  measure.  The  hope  had  been  de- 
bauched, and,  instead  of  resting  upon  and  minis- 
tering to  sound  personal  characteristics  and  rela- 
tionships, was  but  the  pander  to  vicious  animal 
tendencies  or  the  instrument  of  intimidation  in 
the  hand  of  priestcraft.  Man  needed  to  be  ethi- 
calized  and  socialized  in  his  tangible  character 
and  relationships  before  the  imagination  could  be 
trusted  in  the  realm  of  faith.  For  one  thing,  it 
was  necessary  to  establish  the  principle  that  it  is 
a  realm  of  pure  faith,  not  of  knowledge,  that  the 
dead  do  not,  so  far  as  can  be  known,  come  and 
go  or  send  communications  between  that  realm 
and  this. 

True  to  its  character  as  ethical  rather  than 
scientific,  the  Hebrew  spirit  stamped  such  inter- 
communication as  unwholesome  rather  spiritual 
than  unreal,  and  forbade  it  as  it  had  for-  ^^^^y- 
bidden  polytheism,  as  a  species  of  impurity.  It  is 
probable  that  the  Hebrews  never  came  to  think  of 
it  as  unreal,  as  indeed  it  is  questionable  whether 
many  of  them  ever  became  thorough- going  mono- 
theists,  or   gave    up    a   lurking   notion   that   the 


208  SPIBITUAL  PUBITY. 

heath eu  gods  had  some  sort  of  demoniac  existence 
at  least.i  But  the  brand  of  uncleanness  was  put 
ujjon  polytheism  and  intercourse  with  the  dead,  and 
thus  for  practical  purposes  the  doors  of  intercom- 
munication between  the  two  worlds  were  closed. 
Jesus  never  denied  the  possibility  of  such  inter- 
course, yet  he  did  not  engage  in  it.^ 

It  is  a  remarkable  fact  that  to-day  the  attitude 
of  Christendom  toward  the  question  of  intercourse 
with  the  dead  is  one  of  disapproval  rather  than  of 
very  positive  denial.  The  feeling  of  incredulity  is 
less  obvious  than  that  of  uncanniness ;  and  the  air 
of  uncleanness  about  spiritism  and  theosophism 
has  had  more  than  anything  else  to  do  with  limit- 
ing their  spread.  The  work  of  a  scientific  commis- 
sion, a  few  years  ago,  proving  the  dishonesty  of 
leading  mediums  and  the  fraudulent  character  of 
their  alleged  communications  from  the  other  world, 
produced  scarcely  a  ripple  of  effect.^  About  all 
that  science  can  do  is  to  verify  the  suggestions  of 
the  wholesome  Christian  spirit,  which  looks  upon 
such  things  with  something  of  the  disfavor  it  does 
upon    information    secured    by  eavesdropping   or 

1  1  Cor.  X.  20. 

^  The  transfiguration  and  resurrection  phenomena  appear  to 
contradict  this  statement.  They  belong-,  however,  in  a  category 
by  themselves.  The  former  would  lose  nothing  of  its  significance 
if  it  were  explained  on  psychological  grounds.  Yet  concerning  it 
Jesus  desired  silence.  The  resurrection  ai^pearances  w^ere  asserted 
to  differ  wholly  from  those  of  an  ordinary  ghost, —  and  they  came 
to  a  summary  end. 

^  See  Beport  of  the  Seyhert  Commission. 


FBIENDSHIP.  209 

secrets  extorted  by  priestcraft.  In  the  warfare 
against  superstition,  the  scientific  is  on  the  whole 
less  effective  than  the  social  spirit.  This  last  acts 
upon  the  rule  that  the  world  is  better  off,  human 
character  and  relationships  are  better  off,  for  let- 
ting such  things  alone.  Whether  they  are  real  or 
unreal,  they  are  anti-social. 

While  the  motive  of  the. Christian  spirit  in  for- 
bidding rather  than  denying  the  reality  of  inter- 
course with  the  inhabitants  of  the  unseen 

.      .  'Ill  The  supreme 

world  IS  because  it  is  a  social  rather  than  spiritual  re- 

.    .  ,  latiouship. 

a  scientific  spirit,  yet  perhaps  it  comes  as 
near  the  truth  as  that  science  which  is  so  unscien- 
tific as  to  venture  a  universal  negative.  In  this, 
however,  it  is  still  true  to  its  social  character. 
For,  being  the  spirit  it  is,  it  establishes  such  rela- 
tionships between  persons  that  it  cannot  without 
self-annihilation  let  go  the  hope  and  faith  that  such 
relationships  shall  be  independent  of  the  circum- 
stance of  death,  which  appears  to  belong  to  the 
purely  physical  order.  The  Christian  spirit  is  not 
content  with  affirming  brotherhood,  a  common 
origin  and  nature.  It  uses  this  as  a  basis  only,  out 
of  which  to  develop  a  community  of  end. 

Perhaps  the  term  which  most  nearly  describes 
the  highest  fruitage  of  the  social  spirit  is  friend- 
ship, "  the  master  passion,"  as  it  has  been 

^  — ,  1    1  .       .         1  IT'  Friendship. 

called.^     Friendship  is  that  purely  disin- 
terested relationship  which  may  spring  up  out  of 
1  Trumbull,  The  Master  Passion. 


210  FRIENDSHIP  IN  HISTORY. 

the  soil  of  other  relationships,  but  which  transcends 
them  all.  It  is  so  much  more  easily  observed  in 
those  whose  other  interests  do  not  coincide  that  it 
is  sometimes  thought  not  to  exist  elsewhere.  Yet 
it  is  probable  that  by  far  the  greater  share  of 
friendship  in  the  world  exists  in  family  relation- 
ships, where  it  is  so  interwoven  with  other  inter- 
ests that  it  cannot  be  isolated  for  examination. 
As  only  small  quantities  of  aluminium  have  been 
reduced  to  the  metallic  state,  although  it  forms  a 
large  proportion  of  the  substance  of  common  clays 
and  slates ;  so,  while  friendship  unalloyed  is  ex- 
ceptional, a  great  part  of  healthy  common  life  is 
made  up  of  it  in  combination.  It  is  the  one  purely 
spiritual  relationship. 

Friendship  has  played  a  great  part  in  history. 
But  for  the  friendship  of  David  and  Jonathan,  He- 
Friendship  brew  history  could  never  have  flowed  in 
in  history.  ^^^  channels  it  did.  But  for  the  friend- 
ship of  Alexander  and  Hephaiston,  Macedonian 
civilization  would  almost  certainly  not  have  over- 
spread the  Orient  as  it  did,  and  hence  all  subse- 
quent civilization  would  have  been  different  from 
what  it  was  and  is.  Galilee  and  Judea  would  have 
had  a  different  history,  and  Jesus  would  therefore 
have  been  a  different  man.  There  would  have 
been  no  Saul  of  Tarsus  with  his  cosmopolitan  mind, 
no  John  with  his  profound  mysticism,  no  Alexan- 
drian Origen  following  in  the  steps  of  the  Alexan- 
drian Philo.     But  for  the  friendship  of  Octavius 


FBIENDSIIIP  IN  HISTORY.  211 

and  Agrippa,  no  Augustan  age  would  have  given 
the  necessary  lull  for  the  nourishing  of  a  new  vital 
civilizing  agency  before  the  forces  of  anarchy 
broke  loose.  Charlemagne  was  fitted  to  found  in 
western  Europe  only  a  blind  military  despotism,  no 
better  than  that  which  now  blights  its  eastern 
plains.  But  he  had  a  friend,  Alcuin,  a  scholar 
and  a  Christian,  through  whose  influence  he  was 
led  to  found  schools,  encourage  learning,  publish 
humane  laws,  and  make  western  Europe  the  pio- 
neer in  the  only  civilization  that  has  the  promise 
of  perfection  in  it.  That  William  the  Silent  was 
able  to  check  the  extension  of  Spanish  tyranny  to- 
ward the  north,  where  it  would  have  hemmed  the 
Reformation  into  central  Germany  and  shut  the 
gates  whence  poured  the  liberty-loving  spirit  of 
the  Netherlands  on  to  the  shores  of  Massachusetts, 
was  because  of  an  early  and  cherished  friendship 
with  Charles  the  Fifth.  Thus  many  if  not  most 
of  the  luminaries  of  history  are  double  stars  re- 
volving about  each  other  under  the  constraining 
influence  of  this  spiritual  force.  There  is  no  such 
thinjr  as  a  materialistic  civilization.  What  some- 
times  seems  like  the  carcass  of  history  is  alive, 
thrilling  and  throbbing  with  spiritual  energies,  and 
whenever  it  rouses  itself  and  does  anything  of  ac- 
count, some  spiritual  cause,  in  many  cases  friend- 
ship, is  at  the  bottom  of  it. 

It  is  no  occasion  for  surprise,  therefore,  to  dis- 
cover that  friendship  is  the  most  descriptive  term 


212       THE  BASIS  OF  CHRISTIAN  SOCIETY. 

for  the  formative  element  in  the  kingdom  of  Jesus. 
The  love  of  Jesus  for  men  was  of  the 
Christian  friendly  as  distinguished  from  the  patron- 
socie  y.  iziug  type.  He  met  all  men  on  the  plat- 
form of  unassumed  friendliness.  He  cherished 
sacred  and  particular  friendships.  The  idyl  of 
his  intimacy  with  the  household  in  Bethany  is  un- 
surpassed in  literature.  His  relations  with  his  dis- 
ciples matured  as  time  went  on,  until,  as  he  was 
about  to  leave  them,  the  intercourse  of  master  and 
follower  was  transfigured  into  the  tenderer  and 
stronger  relation  of  friendship  ;  for,  as  he  said,  he 
had  told  them  all  he  knew,  and  put  the  key  to  all 
the  secrets  of  his  kingdom  into  their  hands.^  The 
answer  to  the  whole  problem  of  how  his  kingdom 
is  to  be  built  is  contained  in  the  friendshij)  that 
existed  between  him  and  them  ;  ^  a  friendship)  which 
it  would  be  interesting  to  compare  with  that  which 
was  at  the  basis  of  the  Roman  peace  during  which 

1  John  XV.  15. 

2  "  We  lay  aside  the  pen  of  criticism  at  a  moment  when  the 
Social  Question  stirs  all  Europe,  a  question  on  whose  wide  do- 
main all  the  revolutionary  elements  of  science,  of  religion,  of  poli- 
tics seem  to  have  found  the  battlefield  for  a  great  and  decisive 
contest.  Whether  this  battle  remains  a  bloodless  conflict  of 
minds,  or  whether  like  an  earthquake  it  throws  down  the  ruins  of 
a  past  epoch  with  thunder  into  the  dust,  and  buries  millions  be- 
neath the  wreck,  it  is  certain  that  the  new  epoch  will  not  conquer 
unless  it  be  under  the  banner  of  a  great  idea  which  sweeps  away 
egoism  and  sets  human  perfection  in  human  fellowship  as  a  new 
aim  in  the  place  of  restless  toil  that  looks  only  to  the  personal." 
Lauge,  History  of  Materialism,  last  page. 


THE  BASIS  OF  CHBISTIAN  SOCIETY.      213 

he  was  born.  The  kingdom  of  Jesus  is  a  spiritual 
kingdom,  not  so  much  because  it  affirms  a  unity  of 
origin  for  the  race,  saying,  "  God  hath  made  of 
one  blood  all  nations  of  men,"  ^  not  because  it  says 
that  men  are  brothers,  but  because  it  gives  prom- 
ise that  this  unity  of  origin  and  nature  shall  be 
crowned  by  the  unity  of  the  spirit.  Paul,  who 
made  such  a  fight  for  the  spirit  against  the  dead 
letter,  was  a  famous  friend.  Dean  Stanley  has 
somewhere  said  of  him  that  he  '^  had  a  thousand 
friends  and  loved  each  of  them  as  though  he  had  a 
thousand  souls."  It  is  not  strange  that  he  claimed 
that  the  true  descendant  of  Abraham,  "  the  friend 
of  "God,"  was  a  spiritual  descendant.  The  law  of 
friendship  is  the  supreme  constitutional  law  of  the 
empire  of  Jesus.  The  spirit  of  friendship  is  the 
supreme  manifestation  of  the  spirit  of  Jesus  in 
society.  It  contains  in  it,  as  it  had  in  his  case, 
the  elements  of  true  fellowship,  of  vicariousness, 
and  of  sovereignty.  "  I  have  called  you  friends," 
he  said,  "  because  all  things  that  I  have  heard  of 
my  Father  I  have  made  known  unto  you  ;  "  and 
"  Greater  love  hath  no  man  now  than  this,  that  a 
man  lay  down  his  life  for  his  friends  ;  "  and  "  Ye 
are  my  friends  if  ye  do  whatsoever  I  command 
you."  As  prophet,  as  priest,  as  king,  Jesus  is 
swayed  by  the  motive,  ruled  by  the  law,  of  friend- 
ship.^     He  was  no  patron  ;  he   never  acted  in  a 

1  Acts  xvii.  26. 

2  Whether  these  conversations  recorded  in  the  fourth  Gospel 


214     MOTIVE  FOR  MATERIAL  BETTERMENT. 

condescending  manner.  He  was  the  friend,  in  the 
most  genuine  sense,  even  of  publicans  and  harlots. 
His  kingdom  cannot  make  progress  through  patron- 
age, however  kindly  intentioned.^  Friendship  can- 
not rest  upon  patronage.  It  is  contrary  to  its 
spirit. 

The  improvement  of  the  material  bases  of  life 
and  the   equitable   adjustment   of  conditions  are 

of  exceedingly  great  importance,  because 
for  material    Only   thus    may  they  be    fitted   for   the 

growth  upon  them  of  disinterested  friend- 
ships. The  chief  opportunity  for  the  growth  of 
such  relationship  is  the  family;  but  where  the 
struggle  for  bare  subsistence  is  too  severe,  or  where 
ignorance  is  besotting,  that  end  is  not  reached,  and 
the  family  fails  of  its  main  purpose.  Extremes 
either  of  poverty  or  of  wealth  interfere  with  the 
transfiguration  of  physical  into  spiritual  relation- 
ships ;  and  it  is  because  of  this  that  the  social 
spirit  is  preparing  to  put  an  end  to  the  curse  of 
those  extremes.  The  ideal  society  which  that  spirit 
will  create  will  be  one  where  every  other  relation- 
ship, while  serving  inferior  though  necessary  ends, 

actually  took  place  or  not,  they  represent  the  facts  concerning 
Jesus'  relations  to  his  disciples,  as  abundantly  confirmed  by  the 
other  sources. 

1  A  public  bathroom  in  one  of  our  cities  used  to  have  a  placard 
conspicuously  posted,  announcing  that  it  was  maintained  by  the 
"  Society  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Poor."  It  is  not 
strange  that  the  enterprise  is  not  solving  the  social  enigma  very 
rapidly.  The  poor,  it  seems,  with  pardonable  ingratitude,  would 
rather  go  dirty  than  bathe  under  that  sign. 


GEORGE  FOX,  215 

shall  minister  the  best  opportunity  for  the  forma- 
tion and  cherishing  of  friendships.  Jesus  con- 
ceived of  the  inhabitants  of  the  celestial  world  as 
having  become  independent  of  the  necessity  of  the 
inferior  and  material,  and  hence  as  living  in  re- 
lationships purely  spiritual.^  Says  Professor  See- 
ley  :  "  This  eternal  question  of  a  livelihood  keeps 
us  on  a  level  from  which  no  ideal  is  visible :  "  but 
in  the  true  society  every  one  would  "  be  alive ;  the 
cares  of  livelihood  would  not  absorb  the  mind, 
taming  all  impulse,  clogging  all  flight,  depressing 
the  spirit  with  a  base  anxiety,  smothering  all  social 
intercourse  with  languid  fatigue,  destroying  men's 
interest  in  one  another,  and  making  friendship 
impossible." 

The  idea  that  the  fundamental  relationship  be- 
tween Jesus  and  his  followers,  namely,  friendship, 
is  the  formula  for  the  spiritualized  soci- 
ety, was  grasped  by  those  disciples  of  the 
spirit  who  went  to  the  rather  pardonable  extreme 
of  emphasizing  the  spirit  as  the  only  permanent 
and  real  thing  in  Christianity,  the  followers  of 
George  Fox.  They  tried  to  let  go  all  institutional- 
ism,  metaphysics,  dogma,  and  all  other  instrumen- 
talities, and  to  open  their  minds  for  the  direct  ac- 
tion of  the  spirit.  They  were  perhaps  the  first  to 
read  Scripture  for  the  sole  and  conscious  purpose 
of  imbibing  its  spirit.  And  they  called  themselves 
"  Friends."  Whatever  other  errors  they  may  have 
1  Luke  XX.  34-36. 


216  GEORGE  FOX. 

made,  they  appear  to  have  been  infallibly  guided 
in  the  choice  of  that  term  as  the  best  expression 
of  the  spirit  of  Christianity.  The  early  history 
of  this  movement,  before  mannerism  on  one  hand 
and  fanaticism  on  the  other  had  begun  to  obscure 
the  real  spirit  of  the  founder,  shows  unmistakably 
that  it  had  realized  the  social  mission  of  the  gos- 
pel at  the  start,  and  had  been  led  to  propose  re- 
forms far  in  advance  of  the  times.  Thus  it  is  said 
that  "Fox,  soon  after  his  conversion,  began  to 
speak  to  judges  to  do  justice,  to  liquor-sellers  not 
to  let  people  have  more  drink  than  would  do  them 
good.  He  petitioned  Parliament  not  to  allow  more 
public  houses  than  were  needed  for  bona  fide  trav- 
elers, and  to  do  away  with  mere  drinking-houses. 
He  saw  that  the  land  mourned  because  of  oaths, 
adidteries,  drunkenness,  and  profaneness.  He  saw 
the  enormity  of  capital  punishment  for  theft,  also 
the  evil  of  tardy  trial  and  long  association  in  the 
evil  company  of  the  jails."  Fox  himself  was  not  a 
quietist.  He  used  phrases  in  the  sense  in  which  af- 
terward Wesley  used  them,  but  his  followers  stere- 
otyped them  and  used  them  to  express  the  empty 
mysticism  of  Madame  Guyon.  The  movement  be- 
gan with  the  primary  aim  of  social  betterment,  and 
its  spirit  was  truly  described  in  the  term  "  friend- 
liness." Could  it  have  succeeded,  the  world  would 
have  been  to-day  a  full  century  farther  along  in  its 
social  development.  But  Fox  lived  before  his  day. 
An  individualistic  revival  had  to  take  precedence 


FRIENDSHIP  AND  IMMORTALITY.         217 

of  the  social,  and  spiritual  forces  turned  their  ener- 
gies into  the  channels  of  Wesleyanism.  But  Fox, 
sensitive  to  the  whisperings  of  the  spirit,  foresaw 
and  coined  the  formula  for  that  social  organization 
which  is  to  be  the  final  product  of  the  creative 
and  recreative  energies  of  the  spirit  of  Christ. 
That  formula  is  "  friendship." 

A  society,  however,  whose  organic  law  is  friend- 
ship cannot  be  an   irreligious    society.     For  the 
spirit  of   friendship  will  not   brook  the  Friendship 
confinement  of   human   interests  to  the  Ja^h^uim- 
sphere  of  the  visible,  where  death  is  cer-  "mortality. 
tain  at  some  time  and  liable  at  any  time  to  inter- 
rupt the  closest  fellowships.     Friendship  is  not  of 
the  dead,  but  of  the  living.     Thus  the  final  social 
law  sets  infinite  value  upon  the  individual.^    There 
is  an  absolute  incompatibility  between  the  cher- 

1  "  With  the  advance  of  civilization  a  higher  value  has  been 
set  upon  the  individual  life.  .  .  .  As  communities  have  left  be- 
hind their  brute  inheritance  and  emerged  into  the  light  of  reason 
and  humanity,  and  in  precisely  the  degree  of  their  jirogress,  have 
they  set  the  stamp  of  preciousness  upon  man  as  man.  ...  In 
earlier  times  individuals  were  worth  more  to  society  than  they  are 
to-day.  .  .  .  Now  the  thing  to  be  noted  is,  that,  along  with  this 
growth  of  the  unessentialness  of  the  individual,  society  has  set 
upon  his  existence  a  higher  estimate.  He  has  taken  on  a  new 
utility,  a  moral  essentialness.  The  farther  we  get  from  animal- 
ism, and  the  nearer  our  approach  to  a  full  humanity,  two  things 
become  plainer,  —  the  decrease  of  the  individiial  as  a  physical  and 
temporal  utility,  and  his  steady  increase  as  a  moral  and  eternal. 
.  .  .  Where  this  movement  will  end  no  one  can  foresee  ;  but  there 
is  an  amazing  inspiration  in  the  fact."  Gordon,  Witness  to  Im- 
mortality. 


218  LIFE  AND  IMMORTALITY 

ishing  of  even  the  memory  of  a  friendship,  and 
the  notion  that  death  is  the  end  of  all.  The  feud 
between  death  and  friendship  can  end  only  with 
the  complete  conquest  of  one  of  the  combatants. 
The  epic  of  this  war,  one  of  the  world's  few  great 
philosophic  poems,^  is  the  picture  of  the  triumph  — 
in  the  mind  of  one  fully  alive  to  all  its  difficulties 
—  of  the  hope  of  immortality  over  the  seeming 
victory  of  death.  It  is  not  an  argument,  but  a  his- 
tory of  the  struggle.  Its  construction,  therefore, 
is  hardly  set  forth  in  propositions,  yet  some  of  its 
assertions  give  out  the  faith  of  which  it  lays  hold, 
as  the  following :  — 

"  That  each,  who  seems  a  separate  whole, 
Should  move  his  rounds,  and  fusing  all 
The  skirts  of  self  again,  should  fall 
Remerging  in  the  general  Soul, 

*'  Is  faith  as  vague  as  all  imsweet : 
Eternal  form  shall  still  divide 
The  eternal  soul  from  all  beside ; 
And  I  shall  know  hira  when  we  meet."  ^ 

When,  therefore,  the  spirit  of  friendship  shall 
have  established  itself  as  the  organic  social  law,  it 
Life  and  ^^  ^  scicutific  Certainty  that  it  will  have 
bToughtlo^  generated  a  faith  in  the  survival  of 
ligiit.  friends ;  ^  and  since,  in  such  a  society,  all 

^  Tennyson's  In  Memoriam. 
2  Canto  xlvii. 

^  In    canto  cvi.  of  In  Memoriam,  the  third  Christmas  hymn 
in  the  poem,  ending  "  Ring  in  the  Christ  that  is  to  be,"  Tennyson 


BROUGHT  TO  LIGHT.  219 

are  either  actual  friends  or  possible  ones,  to  which 
the  spirit  will  go  out  spontaneously  in  friendly  de- 
sire, a  general  faith  in  immortality  will  arise.  The 
stimulus  of  this  faith,  seeking  its  verification,  will 
lead  to  the  most  eager  search  for  evidences  which 
can  chano^e  it  into  knowledo^e.  Most  of  the  efforts 
to  prove  the  doctrine  of  immortality  have  had  this 
kind  of  personal  motive.^     Though  the  search  for 

shows  that  he  realizes  that  the  problem  of  immortality,  which 
his  personal  friendship  brings  to  him,  involves  the  solution  of  the 
social  problem.  If  he  could  only  have  been  true  to  the  inspira- 
tion of  the  hour  when  he  wrote  that  ode  !  he  might  have  been 
to  the  emancipation  of  man  what  Whittier  was  to  that  of  the 
American  black.  But  he  let  the  very  reputation  it  brought  him 
ensnare  him  into  the  toils  of  the  Philistinism  of  the  British  aris- 
tocracy, which  condemned  him  henceforth  in  blindness  to  grind 
verses  for  its  innumerable  royal  weddings.  It  was  a  thousand 
pities. 

^  "  The  proper  function  of  intellect  is  the  service  of  the  social 
sympathies."  (Comte,  System  of  Positive  Policy.)  Comte's  un- 
balanced but  stupendous  intellect  grasped  at  the  truth  that  a  true 
sociology  cannot  be  constructed  without  dealing  with  social  forces 
in  the  form  of  sympathies,  which  demand  the  right  to  hold  an 
attitude  of  some  kind  toward  the  region  beyond  death.  It  was 
under  the  influence  of  this  dimly  apprehended  truth  that  he  pro- 
posed that  the  citizens  of  his  positivist  state  should  worship  the 
dead.  It  is  true  that  he  saw  this  only  under  the  influence  of  a 
certain  personal  experience  of  which  he  said  that  but  for  it  his 
system  would  have  been  "  purely  intellectual,"  that  is,  notional, 
but  that  "  the  necessary  complement  of  the  system  was  now  sup- 
plied by  an  angelic  inspiration  too  soon  developed  by  death."  In 
estimating  Comte,  it  is  customary  to  eliminate  this  as  a  part  of  his 
unfortunate  and  abnormal  personal  equation.  The  fact,  however, 
is  that  that  experience  was  normal  and  typical,  and  not  universal 
only,  because  society  itself  is  abnormal.  Let  society  become 
what  by  its  very  nature  it  ought  to  be,  and  Comte's  experience  of 


220  "  ARTICLES  "   OF  FAITH. 

evidence  fail,  tlie  realm  will  not  be  deserted,  but 
will  continue  as  one  of  pure  faith,  concerning 
which  it  shall  be  said, 

"  We  have  but  faith :  we  cannot  know ; 
For  knowledge  is  of  things  we  see."  ^ 


Though 


"  I  found  Him  not  in  world  or  sun, 
Or  eagle's  wing,  or  insect's  eye  ; 
Nor  thro'  the  questions  men  may  try 
The  petty  cobwebs  we  have  spun ;  "  ^ 

though  when 

..."  Faith  had  fallen  asleep, 

I  heard  a  voice,  '  Believe  no  more,' 
And  heard  an  ever-breaking  shore 
That  tumbled  in  the  Godless  deep ; 

"  A  warmth  within  my  breast  would  melt 
The  freezing  reason's  colder  part, 
And  like  a  man  in  wrath  the  heart 
Stood  up  and  answered,  '  I  have  felt.'  "  ^ 

That  is  to  say,  the  spirit  will  produce  a  faith 
which  is  not  born  of  science. 

But  although  this  faith  will  be  of  a  different 
logical  and  psychological  complexion  from  know- 
ledge, the  degree  of  its  certitude  will  be  as  great 
as  that  of  any  knowledge  can  be.    Science  will  have 

a  personal  friendship  confronting  and  defying  death  will  become 
a  social  factor  no  longer  negligible. 

^  In  Memoriam,  Prologue. 

2  Ibid.,  canto  cxxiv.  Referring  evidently  to  the  Bampton  lec- 
tures. 

^  Ibid.,  canto  cxxiv. 


''ARTICLES''   OF  FAITH  221 

to  deal  not  with  the  legitimacy  of  this  certitude 
so  much  as  with  its  history  and  nature  "Articles" 
as  a  fact.  "  Articles  "  of  religious  faith  °^^^^*^' 
have  not  been  created,  nor  have  they  often  been 
ably  defended,  by  the  scientific  method.  They 
have  been  created  by  interests  of  various  sorts,  at 
the  best  by  those  of  the  affections.^  A  case 
which  illustrates  this  fully  is  the  modern  faith  in 
the  universal  salvation  of  those  who  die  in  infancy. 
It  is  a  faith  of  recent  origin,  without  that  founda- 
tion in  the  language  of  Scripture  upon  which  Pro- 
testants always  profess  to  build,  with  no  organic 
place  in  any  of  the  official  theologies  or  theodicies, 
so  incongruous  with  them,  in  fact,  that  where  it 
comes  it  reduces  their  structures  to  ruins.  Yet 
not  only  can  it  not  be  kept  out,  but  no  one  dare 
bring  upon  himself  the  penalty  of  uttering  a  pro- 
test against  it.  Neither  Scripture  nor  theology 
nor  science  support  it.  Yet  there  it  is,  —  because 
the  spirit  of  Christendom  demands  and  commands 
it. 

Kant   founded   the   faith   in  immortality  upon 

1  We  have  come  into  being  through  a  long  course  of  Christian 
culture,  and  so  find  in  ourselves  a  faith  tendency,  with  something 
of  the  movement  and  certainty  of  natural  forces."  Gordon,  Wit- 
ness to  Immortality^  p.  13. 

"  One  thing  only  can  finally  bring  humanity  to  an  ever  endur- 
ing peace,  —  the  recognition  of  the  imperishable  nature  of  all 
poesy  in  art,  religion,  and  philosophy,  and  the  permanent  recon- 
ciliation on  the  basis  of  this  recognition  of  the  controversy 
between  investigation  and  imagination."  Lange,  History  of 
Materialism^  vol.  iii.,  p.  oGO. 


222  KANT. 

a  moral  imperative,  wliicli  did  not  investigate  or 
reason,  but  spoke  cateo'orically.    Perhaps 

Kant.  T-       ^  1  •  ^       1        •    •  i- 

Kant,  worknig  as  a  metaphysician,  dis- 
covered the  same  fact  which  we  here  find  in  history 
under  the  more  vital  form  of  an  actual  spiritual 
force.  Perhaps  his  abstract  categorical  imperative 
is  nothing  else  than  our  concrete  and  irresistible 
spiritual  potency.  Certain  it  is  that  the  faith  in 
immortality  has  survived  and  does  survive  in  spite 
of  the  lameness  of  its  evidences.  Two  forces  have 
kept  it  alive.  The  selfish  desire  or  dread  of  con- 
tinued existence  has  debauched  men  with  sordid 
and  sensual  otherworldiness.  But,  on  the  other 
hand,  it  has  been  sustained  by  the  holiest  as  well  as 
the  most  powerful  sentiment  which  can  gain  pos- 
session of  the  human  mind,  a  sentiment  without 
faith  in  the  consummation  of  which  human  society 
is  impossible.  If  human  society  lives,  the  faith  in 
immortality  will  not  die.  If  society  fulfills  the 
promise  of  the  spirit,  that  faith  will  kindle  all  life 
into  a  glow  of  holy  anticipation,  because  friendship 
wiU  be  the  social  law.^ 

But  it  is  a  pure  and  a  sane  spirit,  and  hence  it 
will  not  deny  the  opacity  of  the  veil  that  shuts  off 
Ho  e  and  Communication  with  those  who  have  gone 
dread.  hcucc  ;  and  it  will  not  permit  the  religious 

relationship  to  the  unseen  to  stand  in  the  way  of 
or  to  compete  with  proper  relationships  with  the 

^  See  a  beautiful  paragraph  to  this  effect  in  Howells'  Utopian 
A  Traveller  from  Altruria. 


HOPE  AND  DREiiD.  223 

living.^  The  dignity  of  personality  will  become  so 
generally  recognized  that  personal  relationships  or 
their  want  will  be  assumed  to  extend  into  the  un- 
seen. It  will  be  seen  to  be  a  serious  matter  for 
Dives  and  Lazarus  to  grow  apart,  since  the  spell  of 
estrangement  is  liable  to  continue,  and  the  gulf  to 
widen  and  deepen  forever  ;  and  it  is  in  the  nature 
of  human  personality  that  a  single  guilty  aliena- 
tion, if  given  time  for  its  development,  is  capable 
of  producing  the  tortures  of  perdition.  Thus  the 
faith  in  an  unseen  world,  where  blessed  friendly 
relationships  shall  survive  and  consummate  them- 
selves, will  involve  a  corresponding  dread  lest  evil 
relationships  or  evil  no-relationships  may  also  en- 
dure, and  work  out  their  moral  consequences.  It 
is  apparent  that  the  spirit  is  likely  to  maintain 
a  substantially  orthodox  "  article  "  upon  the  sub- 
ject of  eschatology. 

Since  the  faith  in  the  unseen  world  will  have  its 
cause  in  the  imperative  character  of  the  actual 
personal  relationships  which  exist  in  the  visible 
world,  it  will  inevitably  assign  to  Jesus  a  place  in 
the  unseen  corresponding  to  that  which  he  has 

1  "  My  old  affection  of  the  tomb, 

A  part  of  stilluess,  yearus  to  speak  : 

'  Arise  and  get  thee  forth,  and  seek 

A  friendship  for  the  years  to  come.'  " 

In  Memoriani,  canto  Ixxxiv. 

It  should  not  be  overlooked  how  stalwartly  "  sound  in  head,"  to 
use  his  own  expression,  Tennyson  remains  in  all  his  assaults  upon 
the  gates  of  death.  This  sanity  is  a  large  part  of  the  strength  of 
the  poem. 


224  JESUS  KING   OF  IMMORTALS. 

come  to  occupy  in  the  seen.  To  those  to  whom 
Jesus  had  become  the  supreme  Friend 
ofimmor-  in  this  life,  he  became  and  remained  by 
faith  the  supreme  Friend  in  the  other 
life.  Jesus  gained  a  place  in  the  world  of  his  dis- 
ci2)les  which  he  never  lost,  a  social  relationship, 
that  of  friendship.  It  remained  friendship,  and 
became  a  religious  relationship  only  because  one 
term  of  it  was  transferred  to  the  unseen.  They 
were  careful  to  affirm  that  to  their  faith  it  was  the 
same  Jesus.^  Now  the  position  which  Jesus  had 
won  in  the  disciples'  lives,  while  thoroughly  human, 
was  very  remarkable.  In  a  way  he  had  become 
a  God  to  them.  He  had  absorbed,  without  their 
knowing  it,  a  good  share  of  the  functions  of  the 
Hebrew  Jehovah.  They  had  fallen  into  the  com- 
mon habit  of  calling  him  "  Lord,"  in  the  sense  of 
"  Master."  But  that  happened  to  be  the  term 
also  applied  to  Jehovah,  and  after  he  was  taken 
from  them  they  continued  to  use  it,  giving  to  it, 
with  seeming  unconsciousness,  the  sense  of  "  Jeho- 
vah," while,  so  far  as  the  New  Testament  writings 
show,  they  did  not  afterward  use  the  term  "Jeho- 
vah "  except  in  quotations. 

The  Hebrew  concejDtion  of  the  divine  being  con- 
tains two  elements,  which  are  difficult  to  grasp  to- 
gether, but  both  of  which  were  modified  and  pre- 
served if  not  created  by  the  spirit  of  true  social 
relationships.  The  first,  which  belongs  more  spe- 
1  Acts  ii.  36. 


JESUS  AND   GOD.  225 

cificallyto  the  notion  of  "Elohim"  or  "El,"i  is 
that  of  transcendence.  He  is  the  Inscru-  j^g^g  ^nd 
table,  separate  from  and  outside  the  world,  ^^'^^ 
whom  no  man  hath  seen  or  can  see.  The  other 
grows  out  of  the  conception  of  a  national  deity, 
and  more  properly  belongs  to  Jehovah,  though 
patriotism  led  to  the  ascription  to  the  national  God 
of  all  divine  attributes.  According  to  this  latter 
notion  God  is  the  king,  the  ally,  the  friend  of  his 
people.  The  worship  of  a  national  God  may  have 
grown  out  of  that  of  a  deceased  patriarch  or  sheik. 
Yet  the  Hebrew  conception  rose  above  the  ordinary 
one,  in  that  it  thought  of  a  chosen  rather  than  of  a 
merely  natural  relationship.  The  Hebrew  notion 
of  a  covenant  lifted  the  idea  of  a  national  God 
out  of  the  natural  into  the  moral  plane.  It  was 
the  influence  of  this  that  led  them  to  think  of  the 
founder  of  the  race  as  the  friend  rather  than  the 
son  of  God.  It  was  not  easy  to  avoid  abusing  the 
idea  of  a  national  God ;  and  it  was  equally  difficult 
to  combine  it  with  that  of  the  divine  transcendence. 
No  final  success  had  been  attained  in  the  matter. 
Instinctively  —  for  we  find  no  proof  that  they  ever 
reasoned  it  out  —  the  disciples  resolved  the  diffi- 
culty by  giving  to  Jesus  those  more  secondary  and 
human  attributes  of  the  national  God,  and  then 
ascribing  the  more  transcendental  characteristics, 
which  did  not  fit  him,  to  the  God  whom  he  wor- 

1  This  statement  needs  qualifications  which  cannot  be  intro- 
duced here.     But  see  Oehler,  Old  Testament  Theology,  sec  41  f. 


226  APOTHEOSIS  OF  JESUS. 

shiped,  the  heavenly  Father,  "  the  God  and  Father 
of  then*  Lord  Jesus  Christ."  ^ 

In  taking  this  religious  attitude  toward  Jesus, 
and  investing  him  with  the  more  human  attributes 
Apotiieosis  ^^  their  national  deity,  the  disciples  were 
of  Jesus.  acting  under  the  promj^tings  of  the  spirit 
of  friendship  which  bound  them  to  him  ;  and  that 
same  spirit  has  brought  a  good  part  of  the  world, 
and  is  manifestly  destined  to  bring  the  whole  of  it, 
into  a  similar  religious  relationship  to  Jesus.  For 
the  prevalence  of  friendship  as  the  social  law  gives 
no  sign  of  coming  in  the  form  of  a  general  diffused 
and  pervasive  influence.  It  promises  to  accomplish 
itself  in  the  future,  as  it  has  done  in  the  past,  by 
the  enthronement  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  in  the 
seen  and  unseen,  of  the  personality  of  Jesus.  The 
spirit  of  friendship  as  a  world  force  is  the  spirit  of 
Jesus,  in  the  nineteenth  century  as  it  was  in  the 
first ;  and  there  is  no  hint  that  it  is  likely  to  be 
divorced  from  the  personality  of  Jesus.  The  con- 
quest of  the  world  by  the  spirit  of  friendship 
means,  therefore,  not  merely  a  religious  faith  in 
immortality;  it  means  that  among  the  immortals 
Jesus  is  to  hold  a  rank  preeminent  as  he  does 
among  the  mortals,  —  a  man,  but  a  man  exalted 
to  the  right  hand  of  the  Ineffable  Majesty.  It  is 
one  of  the  continental  facts  of  modern  life  that 

^  It  must  not  be  supposed  that  the  processes  were  as  simple  as 
this  brief  outliae  would  make  them  appear.  It  is  believed,  how- 
eyer,  that  this  states  the  salient  facts. 


APOTHEOSIS  OF  "  THE  FATHEB:'         227 

Jesus,  thougli  for  centuries  absent  from  the  visible 
world,  is  in  relations  of  abiding-  and  redeeming 
friendship,  through  their  religious  natures,  with 
millions,  who  are  thereby  coming  into  newness  of 
life.^  Not  only  is  this  relationship  of  friendship 
not  incompatible  with  one  of  worship ;  it  is  the 
basis  of  the  worship  of  Jesus.  It  is  because  of 
it  that  it  is  true,  as  Professor  Bruce  says,  that 
"  Jesus  has  for  the  Christian  consciousness  the  reli- 
gious value  of  God.  He  is  the  Lord  Jesus,  and  as 
such  the  object  of  devoted  attachment  and  rev- 
erent worship."  2 

The  apotheosis  of  Jesus,  however,  is  not  enough 
to  satisfy  the  religious  demands  of  friendship. 
Jesus  himself  is  essentially  a  derived  be- 

,        CI  T^  Apotheosis 

mg,  dependent  upon  the  oupreme  r^ower.  of "  the^^ 
Man  is  not,  Jesus  is  not  such  master  of 
nature,  that  he  can  afford  to  affirm  the  reality,  and 
hence  the  eternity,  of  friendship,  unless  he  at  the 
same  time  affirm  that  the  Supreme  is  enlisted  in 
its  behalf.  To  affirm  that  God  the  Transcendent 
is  the  guarantor  of  the  reality  and  eternity  of  hu- 
man relationships  is  a  supreme  act  of  faith ;  and 
the  consummation  of  the  work  of  the  spirit  of 
friendship,  which  is  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  is  to  lead 
to  the  universality  of  such  a  faith  with  all  that  it 
involves.     The  parturition  of  friendship  in  giving 

1  See  in  this  connection  the  late  Professor  Stearns'  Evidence  of 
Christian  Experience. 
8  Apologetics,  pp.  398  f. 


228         APOTHEOSIS   OF  "  THE  FATHER.'' 

birth  to  such  a  mighty  faith  is  portrayed  in  Brown- 
ing's "  Saul : " 

"And  oh,  all  my  heart  liow  it  loved  him!  but  where  was  the 

sign  ? 
I  yearned  —  '  Could  I  help  thee,  my  father,  inrenting'  a  bliss, 
I  would  add,  to  that  life  of  the  past,  both  the  future  and  this ; 
I  would  give  thee  new  life  altogether,  as  good,  ages  hence. 
As  this  moment, —  had  love  but  the  warrant,  love's  heart  to 

dispense ! ' 
Then  the  truth  came  upon  me.  .  .  . 

Do  I  find  love  so  full  in  my  nature,  God's  ultimate  gift. 

That  I  doubt  his  own  love  can  compete  with  it  ?     Here  the 

parts  shift  ? 
Here,  the  creatures  surpass  the  Creator,  —  the  end,  what  Be- 
gan? 
Would  I- fain  in  my  impotent  yearning  do  all  for  this  man. 
And  dare  doubt  he  alone  shall  not  help  him,  who  yet  alone  can  ? 

I  believe  it !     'T  is  thou,  God,  that  givest,  'tis  I  who  receive  : 
In  the  first  is  the  last,  in  thy  will  is  my  power  to  believe. 

See  the  King  —  I  would  help  him,  but  cannot,  the  wishes  fall 

through. 
Could  I  wrestle  to  raise  him  from  sorrow,  grow  poor  to  enrich, 
To  fill  up  his  life,  starve  my  own  out.  I  would  —  knowing  which, 
I  know  that  my  service  is  perfect.   Oh,  speak  through  me  now ! 
Would  I  suffer  for  him  that  I  love  ?   So  woiildst  thou  —  so  wilt 

thou! 
So  shall  crown  thee  the  topmost,  ineffablest,  uttermost  crown  — 
And  thy  love  fill  infinitude  wholly." 

It  is  to  be  noted  that  in  this  case  also  as  in 
that  of  immortality  the  spirit  produces  the  faith 
rather  than  the  evidence  upon  which  knowledge 
may  be  based.     It   stimulates   to   the   search  for 


KANTS  CATEGORICAL  IMFEEATIVE,      229 

knowledge,  but  it  does  not  postpone  tlie  faith  or 
condition  it  upon  the  acquisition  of  know- 
ledge. Here  is  another  of  the  points  goVicaiim-  " 
where  Kant  appeals  to  the  categorical 
imperative.  The  three  assertions  of  Kant's  moral 
imperative,  Freedom,  Immortality,  and  God,^  com- 
pare with  the  three  articles  of  faith  which  the 
spirit  of  friendship  will  assuredly  create,  namely, 
the  worth  of  personality  (Freedom),  its  deathless- 
ness,  and  the  guaranteeing  of  these  other  two  in 
the  very  nature  of  the  Eternal.^  The  covert  sneer 
which  Renan  meant  to  convey  can  be  overlooked, 
and  the  truth  which  he  only  haK  believed  recog- 
nized, when  he  says  of  the  survivals  of  faith  in 
spite  of  apparent  contradictions :  "  the  reasoning  of 
Kant  remains  as  true  as  it  ever  was ;  moral  affir- 
mation creates  its  object."  ^  The  "  categorical  im- 
perative "  is  the  metaphysical  formula  correspond- 
ing to  the  actual  experience-creating  spiritual 
force,  which  keeps  humanity  in  a  healthy  relation- 
ship both  to  that  which  is  the  object  of  possible 
knowledge,  and  that  which  can  never  be  the  ob- 
ject of  other  than  either  faith  or  unfaith.^     If  the 

^  Kant,  Practical  Eeason  (Abbott's  trans.),  pp.  220  f. 
2  "  But  souls  that  of  his  own  good  self  partake 
He  loves  as  His  o«^l  self ;  dear  as  His  eye 
They  are  to  Him ;  He  '11  never  them  forsake  ; 

Wlien  tliey  shall  die,  tlien  God  himself  sliall  die  ; 
Tliey  live,  they  live  in  blest  eternity."        (George  Herbert.) 

^  History  of  the  People  of  Israel,  Preface,  p.  xxvii. 
*  "  But  it  is  more  important  that  we  shall  rise  to  the  recogni- 
tion that  it  is  the  same  necessity,  the  same  transcendental  root  of 


230  AN  ADEQUATE  GOD. 

spirit  of  friendship  fulfills  itself,  faith  in  a  benefi- 
cent God  will  prevail.  If  it  does  not,  then  the  al- 
ternative is  the  equally  unverifiable  yet  inevitable 
conviction  that 

' '  Earth  is  darkness  at  the  core, 
And  dust  and  ashes  all  that  is." 

This  spirit  will  create  belief  not  only  in  a  God, 
but  in  a  God  adequate  to  the  situation.  Almost 
An  adequate  ^^^  ^^^^t  act  of  the  Hebrew  spirit  when 
^°^'  it  began  the   spiritualization   of   history 

was  to  improve  upon  the  idea  of  God.  It  kept  on 
until,  through  Jesus,  it  seemed  to  complete  the 
work  by  giving  to  God  the  name  "  Father."  Yet 
what  seemed  to  be  the  final  stroke  was  only  the 
introduction  of  a  profounder  problem.  For  "  Fa- 
ther "  is  a  relative  term,  and  an  eternal  and  tran- 
scendent Father  is  meaningless  unless  there  be  an- 
other eternal  and  transcendent  term.  To  the  dis- 
ciples of  Jesus  the  Transcendent  was  his  Father. 
They  knew  the  Father  only  as  related  to  Jesus. 
When  Jesus  passed  into  the  invisible,  he  was 
thought  of  as  having  gone  to  his  Father,  as  he 
had  said  he  would,  as  being  exalted  to  the  right 
hand  of  the  Eternal.  Thus  psychologically  Jesus 
had  become  identified  in  their  minds  with  the  eter- 

our  human  nature,  which  supplies  us  through  the  senses  with  the 
idea  of  the  world  of  reality,  and  which  leads  us  m  the  highest 
function  of  nature  and  creative  synthesis  to  fashion  a  world  of 
the  ideal  in  which  to  take  refuge  from  the  limitations  of  the 
senses,  and  in  which  to  find  again  the  true  Home  of  the  spirit." 
Lange,  History  of  Materialism,  Preface  to  Book  II. 


AN  ADEQUATE  GOD.  231 

nal  and  transcendent  "  other-term,"  and  tliey  could 
not  help  it.  There  was  a  psychological  constraint 
upon  them  to  assert  his  preexistence,  and  all  the 
problems  of  Christology  grew  up.  The  temptation 
to  mythologize  was  very  great,  and  it  is  strange 
that  the  aher-glauhe  was  not  more  dense  and  wild 
than  it  was.  The  spirit  urged  them  on  even  through 
those  dangerous  paths,  requiring  faith  in  an  eternal 
Father  and  hence  in  an  eternal  correlative,  a  Son 
standing  in  such  relationship  to  the  Father  that  he 
was  never  other  than  Son,  an  eternally  begotten  Son. 
And  because  the  history  of  their  faith  in  divine  Fa- 
therhood was  what  it  was,  they  could  not  distinguish 
—  unless  it  might  be  metaphysically,  and  they  were 
not  metaphysicians  —  between  Jesus  of  Nazareth, 
whose  heavenly  Father  was  now  theirs  because  He 
had  been  his,  and  that  "  Eternally  Begotten  Son  " 
of  their  faith.  So  they  frankly  identified  the  two, 
one  an  object  of  historical  knowledge,  the  other  of 
pure  faith,  and  accepted  the  enigmas  which  such 
identification  involved.  It  was  a  remarkable  trans- 
action, but  not  so  remarkable  as  the  fact  that  it 
has  been  able  to  repeat  itself  in  human  experience 
from  that  day  to  this ;  for  it  is  not  the  dogma  con- 
cerning Jesus  which  has  produced  the  experience, 
but  the  experience  which  has  produced  and  pre- 
served  and   many   times  revitalized   the  dogma.^ 

^  In  constructive  tlieolof^y  "  thought  starts  with  the  data  and 
the  beliefs,  the  consciousness  and  the  principles,  of  a  religion  and 
the  religious  society.    God  is  a  being  whose  existence  is  accepted 


232  APOTHEOSIS  OF  THE  SPIBIT. 

The  spirit  of  devotion  to  Jesus  works  through  him 
up  to  faith  in  the  divine  Father  ;  but  not  without 
placing  the  personality  of  Jesus  in  a  thoroughly 
unique  position  both  with  reference  to  God  and  to 
man.  While  it  cannot  be  predicted  that  the  terms 
of  statement  of  this  attitude  of  mind  toward  Jesus 
may  not  vary  much  from  the  traditional  because 
of  changes  in  the  metaphysical  or  philosophical 
organon ;  yet  it  is  apparent  that,  because  of  his 
actual  historical  position,  which  is  an  object  of 
positive  knowledge  and  not  of  faith  or  opinion,  he 
is  destined  to  occupy  to  the  faith  of  the  future  a 
peculiar  relationship  to  the  mysterious  "other- 
term  "  of  that  divine  Fatherhood  in  which  the 
world  will  never  cease  to  believe. 

The  spirit,  however,  which  is  conquering  human- 
ity is  not  satisfied  with  a  faith  in  an  eternal  Fa- 
Apotheosis  tlierhood  and  Sonship.  It  affirms  these 
of  the  spirit.  ^^Yj  as  basal  relationships.  It  insists 
with  equal  imperativeness  on  affirming  that  these 
basal  relationships  have  been  eternally  transcended 
in  the  spiritual  one  of  friendship,  that  friendship 
which  is  typified  in  the  mature  relationship  of  the 
father  and  son   after  mere  animal   and  material 

and  assumed ;  He  has  been  an  object  of  worship  before  He  be- 
came a  subject  of  thought.  .  .  .  And  the  world  theology  has  to 
interpret  is  as  concrete  as  the  God.  It  is  not  the  abstract  nature 
of  Theism,  but  the  world  of  actual  men,  with  all  that  lies  as  his- 
tory behind  and  all  that  lives  as  passion,  sin,  belief,  hope,  and 
reason  within  them."  Fairbairn,  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern  The- 
ology, pp.  402,  403. 


APOTHEOSIS   OF  THE  SPIRIT.  233 

interdependence  lias  been  swallowed  up  in  per- 
sonal interdependence.  That  highest  conceivable 
relationship  of  friendship  is  not  only  spiritual,  it 
is  a  spirit,  a  quasi-independent  thing,  a  force,  pro- 
ceeding from  the  persons  in  whom  it  inheres. 
Faith,  therefore,  in  its  determination  to  serve  the 
interests  of  friendship  by  affirming  a  God  adequate 
to  the  situation,  will  insist  upon  the  assertion  of 
an  eternally  existing  spirit,  a  force,  proceeding 
from  the  Father  and  from  the  Son.  And  since 
a  spirit  of  personal  relationship  cannot  exist  with- 
out a  complete  distinction  of  personalities,  it  will 
hold  that  the  distinction  between  Father  and  Son 
in  the  Godhead  is  eternally  equivalent  to  a  per- 
sonal distinction.  By  the  same  token  the  spirit, 
although  in  one  sense  wholly  dependent,  is  in  an- 
other sense,  and  in  proportion  to  its  perfection  as 
a  spirit,  independent  and  distinct.  There  is  a  dis- 
tinction between  a  person  and  a  society  and  the 
spirit  of  that  person  or  society,  a  distinction  which 
is  nowhere  better  expressed  than  in  the  old  theo- 
logical term  "  hypostatic."  Hence  concerning  this 
eternally  proceeding  spirit,  which  belongs  to  the 
internal  structure  of  the  Godhead,  faith  will  affirm 
an  eternal  hypostasis.  This  will  not  stand  for  per- 
sonality in  the  same  sense  as  the  others  ;  but,  as 
the  spirit  of  personal  relationships,  it  will  be  in  a 
sense  equally  high  and  important.  Indeed  the 
affirmation  concerning  the  distinction  between  Fa- 
ther and  Son  will  be  that  it  is  at  least  equivalent 


234  THE  HOLY   TRINITY. 

to  that  o£  persons.  It  may  be  more  :  it  cannot  be 
less.  So  of  the  spirit  it  will  be  that  it  is  corre- 
spondingly personal,  in  its  way,  as  spirit.^ 

Such  a  faith  in  an  Eternal  Father,  an  Eter- 
nally Begotten  Son,  and  an  Eternally  Proceeding 
The  Holy  Spirit,  onc  God,  and  yet  with  these  eter- 
Tnnity.  ^^^  hypostatic  distinctions,  is  the  faith 
which  the  social  spirit,  when  it  has  consummated 
itself  and  universalized  its  power,  will  cause ; 
because  no  other  is  adequate  to  the  situation.  It 
will  cause  it  to  be  held  with  a  certitude  equal  to 
the  supremest  certitude  with  which  friend  believes 
in  friend,  a  certitude  different  in  kind  but  not  in 
degree  from  that  of  knowledge.  Will  cause? 
Nay,  will  universalize ;  for  among  the  other 
marvels  which  occurred  at  or  near  the  beginning 
of  our  era,  one  of  the  most  astonishing  is  the 
creation  and  definition  of  precisely  that  article 
of  faith  which  unassailable  logic  shows  must  one 
day  be  created  and  defined  if  the  spirit  of  right 
relationships  between  man  and  man  fulfills  its  po- 
tentiality. It  is  true  that  the  Greek  mind  pre- 
pared the  formal  statement  of  this  faith.     But  it 

^  Augustine,  who  for  ecclesiastical  reasons  desired  to  harmon- 
ize the  fundamental  notions  of  Christianity  with  Roman  imperi- 
alism, took  the  first  step  toward  that  devitalization  of  the  trini- 
tarian  conception,  which  has  heen  so  serious  a  matter  for  all 
western  theology.  Thus  he  apologized  for  and  minimized  the 
terms  of  it,  among  other  things  declining  to  call  the  Holy  Spirit 
alius  than  God,  but  only  saying  that  it  was  aliud.  See  De  Fide 
Gt  Synibolo. 


THE  HOLY   TRINITY.  235 

was  the  Christian  spirit  which  produced  the  faith 
and  enlisted  the  Greek  genius  in  the  analytic 
determination  of  its  contents.  For  the  Nicene 
and  Athanasian  symbols  are  but  an  effort  to 
render  explicit  what  was  implicit  in  the  religious 
attitude  of  the  Christianity  of  that  day.  It  is 
true  that,  following  the  perverse  polemical  method 
of  that  age,  the  dogma  —  itself  the  effect  rather 
than  the  cause  of  the  redemptive  movement  — 
was  put  forward  as  though  its  speculative  adop- 
tion were  necessary  in  order  to  enter  the  sphere 
of  influence  of  that  redemptive  movement.  The 
"  Qidcumqiie  vult "  is  not  easy  to  defend.  It  is 
not  true  that  whosoever  will  be  saved  must  begin 
by  holding  the  creed  of  Athanasius.  But  the 
resentment  against  that  statement  usually  dis- 
credits itself  by  a  far  more  shallow  inconsequence. 
That  was  but  a  reading  backward,  metaphysically, 
as  in  a  mirror  reversed,  the  truth  that  whosoever 
is  saved,  and  lives  to  work  out  the  logic  of  his 
salvation,  will  end  by  worshiping  what  would  be 
accurately  described,  as  "  one  God  in  trinity,  and 
trinity  in  unity."  Guided  by  his  religious  in- 
stincts, he  would  "  neither  confound  the  persons 
nor  divide  the  substance ; "  for  he  would  regard 
the  Father  as  one  hy^Dostasis,  the  Son  as  another, 
and  the  Holy  Spirit  as  another.  But  "  the  god- 
head of  the  Father  and  of  the  Son  and  of  the 
Holy  Spirit  "  he  would  hold  to  be  "  all  one,  the 
glory  equal,  the  majesty  co-eternal."     Such  as  he 


236  THE  HOLY  TRINITY. 

tliouglit  tlie  Father,  such  he  would  think  the  Son, 
and  such  the  Holy  Spirit ;  "the  Father  uncreate, 
the  Son  uncreate,  the  Holy  Spirit  uncreate;  the 
Father  incomprehensible,  the  Son  incomprehen- 
sible, and  the  Holy  Spirit  incomprehensible  ;  the 
Father  eternal,  the  Son  eternal,  and  the  Holy 
Spirit  eternal ;  yet  not  three  eternals  but  one 
eternal;  as  also  not  three  incomprehensibles  nor 
three  uncreated,  but  one  uncreated  and  one  incom- 
prehensible :  the  Father  almighty,  the  Son  al- 
mighty, the  Holy  Spirit  almighty;  yet  not  three 
almighties  but  one  almighty  :  so  the  Father  God, 
the  Son  God,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  God ;  yet  not 
three  Gods  but  one  God :  likewise  the  Father 
Lord,  the  Son  Lord,  and  the  Holy  Spirit  Lord ; 
yet  not  three  Lords  but  one  Lord ;  the  Father 
made  of  none,  neither  created  nor  begotten ;  the 
Son  of  the  Father  alone,  not  made  nor  created 
but  begotten  ;  the  Holy  Spirit  of  the  Father  and 
the  Son,  neither  made  nor  created  nor  begotten, 
but  proceeding."  ^     Thus  in  all  things,  as  afore- 

1  The  term  "  proceeding  "  exactly  describes  the  mode  of  de- 
pendence of  the  kind  of  spirit  we  are  here  investigating.  In  any 
other  sense  it  is  but  a  lame  expression.  This  is  strong  proof 
that  under  the  guise  of  metaphysics  the  framers  of  the  Nicene 
dogma  were  endeavoring  to  describe  the  actual  phenomenon  of 
religious  history  to  which  we  allude.  The  coincidence  is  too 
striking  to  be  accidental.  The  ^'Jilioque  "  controversy  is  also 
suggestive.  The  fact  is  that  in  history  the  spirit  which  is  reli- 
giously denominated  the  Holy  Spirit  proceeds  from  Jesus,  and 
hence  from  the  purely  historical  point  of  view  the  doubt  would 
be  concerning  not  the  "y?7/ogwe"  but  the  ^^  ex  patre.''  But  the 
Church   never  was  able    to  take  the   purely  historical  point  of 


THE  HOLY  TRINITY.  237 

said,  the  unity  in  trinity  and  the  trinity  in  unity 
will  be  worshiped,  and  it  will  be  worshiped 
with  a  loving  adoration ;  for  it  will  not  only  be 
believed  in  with  a  certitude  equal  to  that  with 
which  friend  believes  in  friend,  but  by  the  same 
token  it  will  be  portrayed  with  an  adorable  per- 
fection which  will  win  the  deepest  and  holiest 
affection  of  the  heart.^ 

view.  The  Eastern  Church  missed  it  altog-etlier,  and,  taking- 
only  the  religious  or  pietistie  and  metaphysical  standpoint,  af- 
firmed accordingly  the  "  ex  patre  "  but  denied  the  ^^Jilioque^^^  — 
in  substance  denying  that  the  spirit  was  a  genetic  factor  in  the 
world's  unfolding  history.  The  Eastern  Church,  not  because  it 
denies  the  "^//ogue,"  but  as  a  result  of  the  same  causes  which 
led  to  that  denial,  has  remained  stagnant ;  it  has  no  liistory. 
The  Western  Chui'ch,  as  a  result  partly  of  the  same  causes  which 
led  it  to  affirm  the  ^^Jilioque,''^  is  the  church  of  history  and  of 
progress.  The  denial  or  affirmation  have  indeed  been  contribut- 
ing causes  as  well  as  concomitant  effects  in  the  history.  The 
trinitarian  doctrine,  however,  has  never  been  permitted  to  play 
a  part  as  a  constructive  cause  at  all  commensurate  with  its  possi- 
bilities as  compared  with  other  doctrines  of  the  Godhead,  as  for 
instance  that  concerning  sovereignty.  The  church  was  able  to 
produce  it,  and  has  shown  a  remarkable  instinct  in  conserving  it. 
But  it  has  not  been  allowed  to  germinate.  It  has  not  however 
been  sterilized ;  and  the  day  for  it  to  display  its  wonderful  vital- 
ity and  varied  powers  may  perhaps  be  at  hand. 

1  ''  ^till  I  believe  they  (reformation  and  unity)  will  come,  and 
that  they  will  come  through  an  unveiling  to  our  hearts  of  the  ohl 
mystery  of  the  Trinity,  in  which  our  fathers  believed,  but  which 
they  made  an  excuse  for  exclusion  and  persecution,  not  a  bond  of 
fellowship.  .  .  .  The  preaching  of  the  Trinity  in  its  fullness  Avill, 
I  conceive,  be  the  everlasting  Gospel  to  the  nations."  F.  D.  Mau- 
rice, Autobiography ,  vol.  ii.,  p.  o.~)4. 

"  That  one  Face,  far  frfun  vanish,  rather  grows, 
Or  cleconipises  but  to  recomi>o.e. 
Become  my  universe  that  feels  and  knows  !  " 

B.ovvning,  The  Epilogxie. 


238  LIFE  TRANSFIGURED. 

In  the  light  of  that  conception  of  God  human 
life  and  history  will  undergo  a  grand  transfigura- 
Life  trans-  t^^^^'  ^lic  rcligious  will  uo  lougcr  be 
figured.  attained  only  by  way  of  the  social,  but 
the  social  will  be  approached  from  the  higher 
level  of  the  religious.  Whereas  men  knaw  in 
order  to  believ^e,  they  will  now  know  also  because 
they  believe.  The  relative  importance  of  the  two 
certitudes,  that  of  faith  and  that  of  knowledge, 
will  be  interchanged.  Those  relationships  which 
are  founded  upon  faith  will  be  so  valued  in  com- 
parison with  those  founded  upon  knowledge,  and 
the  instincts  of  faith  will  be  so  trusted,  that  it 
will  be  almost  as  though  knowledge  had  served  its 
day  and  could  be  allowed  to  vanish,  while  faith 
and  hope  and  love  abide.  Then  it  will  be  per- 
mitted to  turn  from  the  order  of  causation  and 
view  phenomena  with  reference  to  the  order  of 
divine  purpose.  To  be  sure,  this  is  not  only  some- 
thing that  will  be.  The  back  light  of  transfigu- 
ration has  always  shone,  has  in  fact  been  the 
brighter,  if  not  the  whiter  light  in  which  events 
have  been  viewed.  Men  have  always  preferred  to 
read  the  world  of  phenomena  in  the  light  of  tele- 
ology rather  than  of  genesis.  The  prevailing 
intellectual  vice  has  been  the  mechanical  mixture 
of  the  two.  Science  insists  upon  the  genetic 
alone,  and  rightly  excludes  teleology  from  its 
sphere.  The  religious  mind,  which  will  be  the 
product  of  the  perfect  social  evolution,  will  respect 


PROVIDENCE  AND    THE  SPIRIT.  239 

the  integrity  of  science  in  this  as  in  everything 
else,  and  yet  will  employ  it  as  a  means  to  smooth 
the  way  for  a  true  teleology.  It  will  look  at 
events  in  the  light  of  its  faith  in  a  divine  purpose ; 
it  will  believe  in  Providence. 

It  will  not  ask  science  to  stultify  itself,  however, 
by  taking  account  of  providential  dealings.^  The 
divine  in  history  cannot  be  a  discovery  providence 
of  science  as  such.  It  is  an  article  of  Jpfr"uot 
faith,  which  affirms  it  in  two  by  no  *^"'^*'"^^- 
means  identical  propositions.  These  are  a  general 
divine  providence,  and  a  specific  divine  incarna- 
tion. The  specific  divine  operation  in  history  is 
not  a  series  of  providential  interferences,  but 
a  spiritual  and  personal  force,  which  science  dis- 
covers and  describes  as  an  integral  part  of  history, 
fulfilling  the  continuities,  and  concerning  which 
faith  affirms  that  it  is  divine.  That  which  distin- 
guishes the  Hebrew  and  Christian  development 
is  not  a  set  of  special  providential  interventions, 
but  a  special  spiritual  potency,  producing  and  in 
turn  proceeding  from  an  unique  personality.  It 
is  by  this  spirit  and  this  person  that  that  history 
is  marked  off  from  all  other  history ;  and  it  is 
because  of  these  that  faith  affirms  that  it  is  speci- 
fically divine.     Hence  although  an  exceptional  it 

1  "  To  say  that  Providence  is  the  guide  and  ruler  of  history  is 
to  say  absohitely  notliing  unless  one  makes  clear  the  necessary 
relation  of  that  power  to  human  progress."  F.  A.  Henry, 
Princeton  Review. 


240      ''DIVINE  ORDERING''  AND   CONTINUITY. 

is  a  tlioroiiglily  normal  history ;  as  an  individual 
is  most  wholesomely  religious,  not  because  he  can 
relate  the  greatest  number  or  the  most  striking 
of  "  special  providences,"  but  because,  while,  like 
Jesus,  he  regards  all  things  as  providential,  he  is 
swayed  by  a  spirit  which  causes  all  events  to  work 
toward  the  best  ends.  Whether  or  not  God  inter- 
venes in  behalf  of  a  man  or  a  course  of  history 
is  of  small  account;  whether  or  not  the  sj)irit 
of  Jesus  dominates  that  man  or  that  history  makes 
all  the  difference  in  the  world.  That  is  divine, 
says  faith,  where  that  spirit  rules;  that  is  not 
divine,  however  miraculous,  where  that  si^irit  is 
not,i 

What  is  to  be  called,  therefore,  a  divinely  or- 
dered life  or  history  need  not  be  conceived  of  by 
the  most  religious  mind  as  one  in  which 

"  Divine  or-  .  *-" 

dering "  and  material  events  as  such  are  ordered  dif- 

continuity. 

ferently  from  what  they  are  elsewhere  ; 
but  rather  as  one  in  which  the  spirit  is  present, 
either  giving  to  material  events  a  special  signifi- 
cance, or  so  guiding  men  that  such  events  as  are 
deiDcndent  upon  their  actions  are  really  determined 
by  the  action  of  the  spirit.     Lotze  means  much  the 

1  "  My  firm  conclusion,  in  which  every  day  of  fresh  thought, 
reading,  and  prayer  strengthens  me,  is  that  the  voice  of  the  Spirit 
must  always  lord  it  over  the  voice  of  Providence  where  they  seem 
to  be  in  contradiction ;  and  that  in  fact  without  the  first  we  have 
no  means  of  understanding  the  other,  so  that  if  our  ears  are  too 
deaf  for  that,  we  are  bound  to  wait  and  not  fancy  we  can  obey  the 
other."     F.  D.  Maurice,  Biography^  vol.  i.,  p.  138. 


''DIVINE  OIWEEING''   AND   CONTINUITY.      241 

same  thing  when  he  says:  "However  specially  we 
may  imagine  the  history  to  be  guided  from  the 
loftier  standpoint  of  divine  wisdom,  from  a  higher 
plane  than  natural  evolution,  we  may  be  quite  sat- 
isfied if  this  guidance  takes  place  through  action 
and  reaction  between  God  and  the  spiritual  nature 
of  man,  in  such  a  way  that  the  thoughts,  feelings, 
and  efforts  thus  aroused  and  developed  also  alter 
the  external  position  of  mankind,  to  the  same  lim- 
ited extent  to  which  our  action  is  able  to  change 
the  physical  conditions  of  our  existence.  Thus 
within  the  realm  of  nature,  with  its  uninterrupted 
coherence,  there  is  certainly  a  possibility  of  his- 
tory." ^  Thus  while  the  religious  attitude  requires 
faith  in  both  special  and  general  divine  care  and 
interest  in  man,  that  attitude  may  be  held  without 
denying  the  continuity  and  uniformity  of  natural 
law.  When  science  establishes  the  presumption 
of  such  uniformity  and  continuity,  the  religious 
mind  responds,  not  with  contradiction,  but  with  a 
faith  in  a  correspondingly  uniform,  continuous, 
and  im^^artial  divine  Providence,  sending  its  favors 
and  enforcing  its  laws  upon  just  and  unjust,  not- 
ing the  fall  of  a  sparrow,  having  no  respect  of 
persons,  —  not  because  of  indifference,  to  all,  but 
because  of  indifference  to  none.  Science  again 
discerns  the  profoundly  specific  character  of  a  cer- 
tain man  and  of  a  certain  spiritual  force ;  and  the 
religious  mind  responds  again  by  declaring  that 
1  Microcosnius,  Book  VII.,  cap.  i. 


242      ''DIVINE  ORDERING''   AND   CONTINUITY. 

these  two  elements  are  the  historical  aspects  of 
God  acting  as  a  special  agent  in  human  affairs. 
Thus  the  scientific  and  the  religious,  both  when 
they  generalize  and  when  they  specialize,  move  in 
exact  parallelism.  An  absolutely  general  Provi- 
dence gives  no  clew  to  the  meaning  of  the  world, 
and  will  not  satisfy  the  religious  craving.  A  spe- 
cial Providence,  interfering  with  the  genetic  contin- 
uities, is  obnoxious  to  the  scientific  mind.  Jesus, 
however,  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus  are  specific  factors 
which  science  can  acknowledge  as  such  while  faith 
apotheosizes  them.  Thus  when  the  work  of  the 
spirit  shall  have  been  so  far  perfected  that  it  shall 
have  secured  the  worship  of  Jesus  as  the  incarna- 
tion of  the  mysterious  Second  Person  of  the  God- 
head, and  of  itself  as  the  manifestation  of  the 
Spirit  of  the  Father  and  the  Son,  the  religious 
mind  will  be  satisfied  with  the  intelligibility  of  the 
world  while  yet  the  right  of  the  scientific  mind  will 
not  have  been  infringed.^ 

1  A  merely  generic  godhood  gives  no  starting  point  to  religion. 
The  current  supernaturalism  is  an  effort  to  attach  a  saving  amend- 
ment, m  the  interest  of  religion,  to  the  deism  of  the  last  century 
or  the  pantheism  of  the  early  part  of  this.  The  transcendental 
and  immanent  theisms  are  simply  deism  and  pantheism  under  the 
control  of  religious  moods ;  but  they  are  really  impotent  in  reli- 
gion, because  both  wholly  generic.  The  modern  effort  so  to  com- 
bine them  as  to  escape  from  the  closed  circle  is  not  a  success. 
When  they  seem  to  be  interlinked,  it  is  but  a  trick  of  logical 
legerdemain.  Two  generics  do  not  make  a  specific.  The  peace 
between  the  scientific  and  the  religious  interests  will  not  be  made 
in  that  way,  but  will  come  tlirough  tl)e  revitalizing  of  the  trini- 
tarian  conception.  And  however  successful  logic  might  be  in 
bringing  that  about,  it  is  the  social  spirit  which  actually  will  do  it. 


SENSE  OF  SIX.  243 

But  when  this  time  conies,  and  the  promptings 
of  that  sj^irit  shall  have  been  interpreted  as  the 
yearnings  of  God,  men  will  be,  as  never 
before,  concerned  about  the  relationship 
between  themselves  and  that  God.  They  will  see 
that  they  have  been  alienated  from  Ilim ;  and  in 
the  light  of  the  conception  which  will  then  prevail 
that  alienation  will  be  realized  as  an  awful  tragedy. 
Such  realization  will  be  the  sense  of  sin.  All  of 
the  long  and  but  meagrely  successful  struggles  of 
this  spirit  to  gain  possession  of  the  hearts  of  men 
will  be  interpreted  as  the  pathetic  efforts  of  a  di- 
vine Father  to  rescue  and  reconcile  to  himself  and 
to  their  own  best  selves  his  wayward  children. 
The  general  unresponsiveness  of  men  will  be  inter- 
preted as  a  revelation  of  race  sin.  Then  this  inter- 
pretation will  be  applied  to  explain  all  the  un- 
brotherliness  in  the  world,  and  the  element  of 
tragedy  which  runs  through  all  history  will  be  ex- 
plained. Not  only  will  men  see  this,  but  they  will 
be  overwhelmed  by  shame  and  sorrow  and  remorse, 
and  they  will  repent  and  seek  to  be  reconciled  to 
God  as  penitent  children.  This  sense  of  sin  and  the 
need  of  repentance,  science  cannot  bring  because 
it  cannot  reveal  God.  It  can  only  reveal  evil,  mal- 
adjustment. The  interpretation  of  this  maladjust- 
ment in  the  form  of  the  belief  that  man  is  a  fallen 
being,  an  estranged  child  of  God,  belongs  to  the 
sphere  of  faith,  because  the  sense  of  divine  child- 
hood itself  belongs  to  that  sphere.     It  is  one  of  the 


244  ATONEMENT. 

doctrines  of  grace,  because  by  its  radical  diagnosis 
of  the  cause  of  evil  it  places  man  in  a  position 
where  a  radical  cure  is  possible.  Thus  the  spirit 
will  convince  the  world  of  sin. 

To   interpret   the  mission  of   Jesus  and  of   his 

spirit  as  the  work  of  God  seeking  to  restore  sinful 

man  is  to  think  of    God  as  suffering  for 

Atonement.        i  i  •  ».     •  ny-i  t    •        • 

the  taking  away  oi  sm.  Ihe  solicitations 
of  the  spirit  are  thought  of  as  God's  solicitations, 
the  sacrifice  of  Jesus  as  his  sacrifice.  To  the  re- 
ligious mind  the  ke}^  to  history  is  that  God  is  deal- 
ing redemptively  with  the  world.  It  is  not  possi- 
ble to  think  of  the  estrangement  of  God's  children 
as  affecting  Him  otherwise  than  with  inconceivable 
anguish.  Nor  can  He  be  thought  of  as  escaping 
that  anguish  by  pardoning  sin  outright.  More- 
over, God  is  the  champion  of  all  those  who  have 
suffered  through  the  sins  of  others.  As  such  it  is 
impossible  not  to  think  of  Him  as  moved  by  an  aw- 
ful yet  a  holy  anger  as  He  looks  at  the  wrongs  and 
outrages  which  curse  this  earth.  It  is  as  axiomatic 
in  morals  as  in  physics  that  action  and  reaction 
are  equal.  If  God  withholds  his  anger  and  turns 
his  vengeance  into  forgiveness,  it  is  a  moral  cer- 
tainty that  He  must  be  thought  of  as  himself  suf- 
fering the  equivalent  of  the  penalty  He  would  have 
inflicted.  Now  science  says  that  the  spell  of  hu- 
man unbrotherliness  loas  broken  by  the  sacrifice  of 
Jesus,  —  it  is  passing  and  is  destined  to  jmss  away 
under  the  influence  of  the  stronger  spell  which  his 


SUJ^TMARY,  245 

cross  has  cast  upon  the  world.  Faith,  interpreting 
this  in  the  light  of  its  deification  of  Jesus,  declares 
that  it  is  a  hint  of  the  divine  mystery  of  love  by 
which  the  sin  of  this  world  was  washed  away  in 
the  suffering  of  the  Second  Person  of  the  God- 
head,—  which  suffering  through  sympathy  was 
that  of  God  himself.  Thus  the  remedial  kinsfdom 
of  Jesus  is,  religiously  viewed,  the  kingdom  of  a 
divine  forgiveness  and  sacrifice.  The  interpreta- 
tion which  faith  will  place  upon  the  world's  re- 
demption will  not  fall  short  of  the  essential  doc- 
trine of  the  atonement. 

Thus  the  whole  catalogue  of  great  dogmas  which 
have  played  their  part  in  religious  history  will  be 
revived,  restated,  and  vindicated,  as  hav-  orthodoxy 
ing  originally  been  dictated  by  the  social  ^^^g^'"®*^- 
spirit.  The  doctrine  of  divine  sovereignty,  which 
has  so  affected  men's  minds  as  to  become  an  im- 
portant historical  factor,  will  appear  to  have  been 
instigated  by  the  spirit  in  response  to  peculiar  de- 
mands of  the  times  ;  and  when  it  has  been  revised 
and  refined  in  the  light  of  maturer  apprehensions 
of  the  meaning  of  divine  Fatherhood  in  its  govern- 
mental relations,!  it  will  become  a  part  of  the  faith 
of  the  future. 

In  short,  we  discovered  a  spiritual  force,  operat- 
ing from  the  first  in  Hebrew  history,  and 
strangely  differentiating  and  integrating 
it,  maintaining  in  it  a  marked  individuality  and 

1  See  such  restatement  in  Faiibairn's  Place  of  Christ  in  Modern 
Theology. 


246  SUMMARY. 

exclusiveness,  while  at  the  same  time  it  kept  it  in 
organic  relationships  with  world  history.  We 
found  it  equipping  that  history  with  a  literature 
quite  the  most  remarkable  in  the  world,  freighted 
with  spiritual  wealth  and  thrilling  with  spiritual 
vitality.  A  Man  was  produced,  evidently  through 
the  quickening  of  that  spirit,  fitted  to  stand  at  the 
centre  and  summit  of  the  world's  development,  and 
able  to  take  and  hold  his  place  there,  and  to  com- 
pel history  henceforth  to  revolve  around  him. 
This  spirit  became  his  spirit,  and  has  been  his 
chief  agent  in  mastering  men.  It  has  created  an- 
other literature,  and  institutions,  and  a  social  at- 
mosphere, founding  for  him  a  spiritual  empire  un- 
like any  other  empire  that  ever  existed,  an  empire 
whose  fundamental  aim  is  the  spiritualization  of 
all  human  relationships.  It  has  kept  this  Jesus  on 
the  throne  of  that  empire,  and  has  exalted  him  in 
men's  religious  conceptions  to  the  right  hand  of 
the  Ineffable  Conception.  So  far  has  this  imperial 
movement  now  gone  that  its  destiny  is  within  reach 
of  scientific  prediction ;  and  it  is  manifest  that  it 
will  recreate  humanity,  will  make  friendship  the 
supreme  law  of  human  relationships,  will  cause 
men  to  regard  such  relationships  as  more  enduring, 
for  good  or  ill,  than  their  physical  frames  or  the 
visible  universe  itself,  and  will  cause  them  to  be- 
lieve in,  to  worship,  and  to  love  a  God  whose  very 
nature  is  the  home  of  the  supremest  personal  rela- 
tionships.    In  the  light  of  such  a  thought  of  God 


SUMMARY.  247 

it  will  reinterpret  the  world,  history,  and  human 
nature,  it  will  assert  a  universal  and  beneficent 
Providence,  an  incarnation  of  God  in  Jesus  and 
in  his  spirit,  a  fall  but  also  a  redemption  of  man, 
and  the  gathering  together  of  the  whole  redeemed 
household  of  the  Eternal  Father  in  bliss  unthink- 
able. Such  a  consummation  will  this  sj^irit  bring 
about.  Whether  or  not  this  faith  is  or  ever  will 
be  scientifically  verified  or  verifiable  is  not  here 
said.  What  is  affirmed  is,  that  it  is  scientifically 
certain  that  such  faith  will  prevail. 

One  final  word :  I  have  endeavored  to  conduct 
this  dissertation  within  the  strictest  limits  of  the 
scientific  method  as  most  narrowly  defined,  believ- 
ing that  by  so  dealing  with  this  topic  I  could  do 
the  best  service  to  my  generation.  If  I  have 
failed  in  this,  no  one  so  desires  to  know  it  as  my- 
self. I  have  been  forced  into  skepticism  as  to  my 
processes  by  astonishment  at  the  conclusions  which 
unfolded  themselves  as  the  subject  ripened  under 
the  glow  of  investigation,  but  have  been  unable 
to  detect  errors  either  of  perception  or  of  reason. 
I  never  dreamed  when  I  entered  this  path  what 
a  revelation  would  break  uj)on  me  when  I  had 
climbed  its  steeps  to  the  end. 

"  I  spoke  as  I  saw. 
I  report,  as  a  man  may  of  God's  work  — 

All 's  love,  yet  all  's  law. 
Now  I  lay  down  the  judgesliij)  he  lent  me. 

Each  faculty  tasked 
To  perceive  Him,  has  gained  an  abyss 

Where  a  dewdrop  was  asked." 


INDEX. 


Abraham,  friend  of  God,  21 ;  seeks 
Palestine,  43,  213. 

Arts,  Book  of,  its  historicity,  151 ; 
its  purpose,  181. 

Alexander  the  Great,  G9,  210. 

Alexandria,  Hellenic  and  Hebrew- 
spirit  in,  69-70. 

American  nationalism  and  the  Scrip- 
tures, 170. 

Amos  and  his  line  of  prophets,  47-48. 

Angels,  Jesus'  idea  of,  133-13G. 

Anna  and  the  "remnant,"  116. 

Antislavery,  spirit  of,  20. 

Apotheosis,  of  Jesus,  226-227  ;  of  the 
Father,  227-230  ;  of  the  Spirit, 
232-234. 

Arnold,  Matthew,  and  French  litera- 
ture, 10  ;  "  Literature  and  Dogma," 
94  n.  ;  and  conduct,  197. 

Asceticism  in  the  early  Church,  167. 

Assyrian  power  and  the  Hebrew 
spirit,  51,  68. 

Athanasian  Creed,  234-236. 

Atonement,  the,  244-245. 

Augustine,  St.,  "De  Fide  et  Sym- 
bolo,''  234  n. 

Baal-worship,  34  ;  and  Elijah,  47. 

Babylonian  Captivity  and  Judaism, 
58. 

Babylonian  traditions  and  Hebrew 
compared,  81-83. 

Bacon,  F.,  criticism  of  Plato,  11  ;  "Z?e 
Angmentis  S'cientiarum,''''  11. 

Ballot.     See  Franchise. 

Baptism  of  Jesus,  129-130. 

Bellamy,  E.  W.,  "Looking  Back- 
ward," 117. 

^^  BenecUefii.t,''  the,  114,  121. 

"  Bible  for  Learners,"  102  n. 

Biy)le,  historical  basis  of,  183  ;  conti- 
nuity of,  184  ;  product  of  the  spirit, 
185  ;  morality  of,  185  ;  accuracy  of, 
186 ;   translation  of,   187  ;   a  force, 


188-189;  as  "Word  of  God,'"  189- 
192 ;  inspiration  of,  192  ;  impor- 
tance of,  193.  See  also  Canon; 
New  Testament ;  Old  Testament ; 
Scriptures. 

Bibliolatry,  189-190. 

Brace,  C.  L.,  '' Gesta  ChrisH,''  159, 
162,  165. 

Briggs,  C.  A.,  "Messianic  Prophecy," 
51. 

Brotherhood,  Jesus'  idea  of,  137 ; 
after  Pentecost,  152 ;  and  property, 
164;  and  war,  171-173. 

Brown,  John,  and  spirit  of  anti- 
slavery,  20. 

Browning,  Robert,  "Saul,"  228,  247; 
"The  Epilogue,"  237  «. 

Bruce,  A.  B.,  "Apologetics,"  27  n., 
28,30,  60».,  61,63n.,227. 

Buckle,  H.  T.,  on  man  in  Europe 
and  Asia,  199. 

Buddhism,  107. 

Business  and  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity, 174-176. 

Cairnes,     J.    E.,    article    in    Fortn. 

Rev.,  16  n. 
Campaign  literature  and  the  canon, 

98. 
Canaan.     See  Palestine. 
Canon,  the  Hebrew  spirit  manifested 

in,  98-104. 
Canticles,  canonicity  of,  102. 
Carlyle,  T.,  "  Hero-Worship,"  23. 
Carthage  lacking  in  a  literature,  76. 
Charities,  of  the  early  church,  159 ; 

and  pauperism,  160,  165. 
Charlemagne  and  friendship,  211. 
Cheyne,  T.  K.,  on  Isaiah,  56. 
Chicago,  its  spirit  of  enterprise,  8. 
Christianity,  spirit  of,  its  reality,  8 ; 

its    adaptiveness,  156-li")7  ;  and  fo- 

cinl  customs  in  the  Roman  Empiric, 

159-169;     and    proi)erty,   1C4-1G5; 


250 


INDEX. 


and  the  family,  1GG-1C9  ;  and  na- 
tionalism, 1G9-171 ;  and  war,  171- 
173;  and  the  franchise,  173;  and 
the  church,  173-17-i;  and  business, 
174-176;  and  industrialism,  176- 
177;  and  land  ownership,  176  7i.  ; 
and  corporations,  177-178  ;  and  lit- 
erature, 178-179  ;  and  science,  179 ; 
and  the  New  Testament,  180-183. 
See  also  Spirit,  the. 

Christoloory  of  the  disciples,  230-231. 

Christ-spirit,  the,  and  the  Zeit  Geist, 
7,  10,  12. 

Church,  the  early,  154  ;  varying  types 
in,  155-157  ;  and  the  Dispersion, 
157  ;  and  charities,  159 ;  and  slav- 
ery, 162  ;  and  the  family,  167. 

Church  of  to-day,  the,  and  the  spirit, 
173-174. 

Comte,  Auguste,  observation  on  three 
stages  of  thought,  1  ;  his  method, 
2;  fails  to  apply  scientific  method 
to  spirit,  5  n.  ;  on  vagueness  of  so- 
ciology, 17 ;  and  modern  society, 
95  ;  and  immortality,  219  ??. ;  "  Sys- 
tem of  Positive  Policy,"  219  ??. 

Confucianism,  107  ;  literature  of,  183  ; 
and  the  Bible,  185. 

Consciousness  not  a  force,  16  n. 

Continuity,  law  of,  and  faith,  240-242. 

Corporations  and  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, 177-178. 

Cosmogony  of  the  Hebrews,  84. 

Creation,  legends  of,  81-85  ;  their  an- 
tiquity, 97  ;  and  formation  of  the 
canon,  98. 

Creative  force  of  the  Hebrew  spirit,  38. 

Creeds,  Athanasian  and  Nicene,  235. 

Crisis,  the  supreme,  in  the  world's 
history,  106-109. 

Cross  of  Jesus,  142. 

Crucifixion  of  Jesus,  its  effect  on  the 
disciples,  149. 

Daniel,  Book  of,  its  canonicity,  103  ; 
Jesus'  acquaintance  with,  141. 

David,  second  King  of  Israel,  spirit 
of,  44  ;  and  Jonathan,  210. 

Death,  Jesus'  idea  of,  135.  See  also 
Future  life. 

Decalogue,  28-  32,  97. 

Deification.     See  Apotheosis. 

Deism,  of  Sadducees,  135 ;  and  imma- 
nent theism,  242  n. 

Demons,  Jesus'  idea  of,  133-135. 

Disciples,  effect  of  crucifixion  on, 
149 ;  Christology  of,  230-232. 

Dispersion,  the,  and  the  Sjaiagogue, 
65 ;  its  preparation  for  Christian- 
ity, 157. 


Driver,  S.  R.,  "  Introd.  to  0,  T.  Lit.," 

62  n.,  101. 
Dumasj,  A.,  and  war,  172. 

Eden  legend,  the,  and  the  Hebrew 
spirit,  80. 

Egyptian  literature  scanty,  76. 

Egyptian  spirit,  and  Mosaism,  28-30, 
32-34. 

Elijah,  a  great  history-maker,  46  ;  and 
the  "remnant,"  ill. 

Elohim  and  Jehovah,  distinction  be- 
tween, 225. 

Equilibrium,  moving,  Spencer's  defi- 
nition of,  15,  16. 

Essenism,  and  John  the  Baptist,  115  ; 
and  Jesus,  120. 

Esther,  Book  of,  its  canonicity,  99. 

Ethics,  of  the  Hebrew  and  of  the 
Egyptian,  29-32  ;  of  the  prophets, 
48-53,  90 ;  of  the  Hebrews  a  grad- 
ual growth,  36 ;  of  the  Bible,  185- 
186  ;  dominant  in  history,  197  ;  and 
mythology,  198;  and  the  imseen 
world,  207-209. 

Everett,  C.  C,  "Gospel  of  Paul," 
142. 

Evil,  doctrine  of,  86-87 ;  Jesus'  idea 
of,  134-135. 

Ewald,  H.,  "Revelation,"  GOn. 

Ezekiel  and  the  ritual,  54. 

Ezra,  an  epoch-maker,  62 ;  and  the 
synagogue,  65  ;  and  beginning  of 
the  canon,  97-98. 

Fairbairn,  A.  M.,  "Place  of  Christ 
in  Modern  Theology,"  3-4  «.,  231  w., 
245  n. 

Faith,  of  the  prophets,  49-50;  and 
immortality,  217-222  ;  produced  by 
the  spirit,  228-230 ;  in  the  Trinity, 
234-235 ;  and  knowledge,  relative 
importance  of,  238  ;  and  the  law  of 
continuity,  240-242  ;  and  the  atone- 
ment, 245. 

Fall  of  man,  account  of,  in  Genesis, 
86  ;  doctrine  of,  243-247. 

Family  relationship,  in  Jewish 
thought,  147 ;  and  the  spirit  of 
Christianity,  166,  168-169;  and 
friendship,  210,  214. 

"Father,"  Jesus'  use  of,  125-129, 
132-133. 

Father,  the,  apotheosis  of,  227 ;  and 
Jesus,  relation  between,  230-232. 

Fatherhood  of  God,  in  the  0.  T..  128  ; 
Jesus'  idea  of,  138,  230;  Hebrew 
knowledge  of,  145;  and  mediaeval 
theology,  146  n. 

Filioque  controversy,  236-237  n. 


INDEX. 


251 


Folk-lore  of  the  "  remnant,"  113-115. 
Fox,  George,  and  his  followers,  215- 

Franchise,  and  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity, 173. 

Fremantle,  W.  H.,  "World  as  Sub- 
ject of  Redemption,"  144, 145,  1G9. 

French  Revolution  and  the  Renais- 
sance, 1)5. 

"Friends,  the,"  and  George  Fox, 
215-217. 

Friendship,  between  Jesus  and  his 
disciples,  140 ;  highest  fruit  of  the 
social  spirit,  201) ;  in  history,  210- 
211  ;  basis  of  Christian  society,  212- 
214  ;  and  material  betterment,  214  ; 
and  George  Fox,  215-217  ;  and  im- 
mortality, 217-220,  222  ;  and  Jesus, 
22G-227  ;  and  the  Trinity,  232-233  ; 
the  supreme  law,  240. 

Future  life,  doctrine  of,  and  the 
Egyptians,  29 ;  tabooed  in  early 
Hebrew  history,  85,  207 ;  in  later 
Judaism,  08 ;  Jesus'  idea  of,  13G, 
208.     See  also  Immortality. 

Genealogies  in  Hebrew  literature, 
88. 

Genesis,  and  science,  85 ;  genealogies 
of,  88 ;  and  Jesus,  135. 

German  races  and  early  Christianity, 
1G6. 

"  Gloria  in  Ezcelsis,^''  the,  114,  121. 

God,  the  guarantor  of  human  relation- 
ships, 227  ;  in  history,  238-242  ;  and 
the  sense  of  sin,  243 ;  fatherhood 
of,  see  Fatherhood. 

God  and  the  world,  doctrine  of,  84; 
Jesus'  idea  of,  133-138 ;  Hebrew 
idea  of,  199-200,  224-226. 

Gordon,  G.  A,,  "  Witness  to  Immor- 
tality," 217  n.,  221  ?i. 

Great  men  and  opportunity,  57. 

Greece,  civilization  of.  See  Hellen- 
ism. 

Greek  language  helpful  to  Hebraism, 
70. 

Greek  literature,  74. 

Guizot,  F.,  "  History  of  Civilization," 
G ;  on  vagueness  of  sociological  re- 
search, 17. 

Guyon,  Mine.,  and  the  "  Friends," 
21G. 

Hibakkuk,  frankness  of,  50. 
H  mnibal  and  literature,  76. 
Hansrath,  A.,  "N.  T.  Times,"  67  n., 

108  ».,  110  ?i.,  113  H.,  126  ?(. 
H  ^braism,  and  Judaism  compared,  56, 

G3 ;    and  the  Messianic  ideal,   59 ; 


and  the  scribes,  62 ;  and  sin,  63 ; 
and  its  literature,  73 ;  and  Hellen- 
ism after  Pentecost,  154.  See  also 
Hebrew  spirit. 

Hebrew  cosmogony,  84. 

Hebrew  ethics,  compared  with  Egyp- 
tian, 29-32;  a  gradual  growth, 
3G. 

Hebrew  history,  individualism  in,  56  ; 
characterization  of,  77  ;  and  Jesus' 
spirit,  144-147  ;  key  to,  147. 

Hebrew  literature,  and  the  scribes, 
62  ;  in  general,  73,  78  ;  and  Pales- 
tine, 80 ;  proverbs  current  in,  80  ; 
heroic  legends  in,  81  ;  genealogies 
in,  88-89 ;  early  fragments  of,  9G- 
97 ;  and  Ezra,  97  ;  and  establish- 
ment of  the  canon,  104  ;  and  the  Sab- 
bath, 105.  See  also  Bible ;  New 
Testament ;  Old  Testament  ;  Scrip- 
tures. 

Hebrew  nation,  the,  orientalized,  45  ; 
disruption  of,  45  ;  the  chosen  peo- 
ple, 55  ;  and  Persia,  100,  146-147  ; 
characterization  of,  108  ;  its  con- 
sciousness a  God-consciousness,  126. 

Hebrew  spirit,  the,  antiquity  of,  28  ; 
a  specific  force,  35 ;  a  social  force, 
38  ;  a  creative  force,  38  ;  and  tlie 
Assyrian  power,  51  ;  and  Messianic 
anticipation,  58  ;  latent  in  Judaism, 
59  ;  and  Persian  mytliology,  Q>9i ;  and 
Hellenism,  G9  ;  and  heroic  legends, 
81  ;  and  the  doctrine  of  evil,  86- 
87  ;  and  genealogies.  88-89  ;  in  the 
prophetic  guilds,  89-90 ;  and  the 
canon,  98-103 ;  and  the  encoun- 
ter with  Persia,  100 ;  and  the  su- 
preme crisis  of  history,  106-109 ; 
and  the  "  remnant,"  111-113 ; 
and  the  Messianic  personage,  116, 
122,  126;  and  the  fatherhood  of 
God,  129  ;  and  John  the  Baptist, 
130;  a  moral  force,  197-199.  See 
also  Hebraism  ;  Mosaism  ;  Mosaic 
spirit ;  Spirit,  the. 

Hebrews,  Epistle  to,  and  the  early 
Church,  155-156. 

Hellenism,  and  the  Hebrew  spirit,  69- 
72  ;  to-day,  74  ;  and  Hebraism  after 
Pentecost,  154. 

Henry,  F.  A.,  Article  in  Princeton 
Rev.  239  n. 

Herbert,  G.,  quotation  from,  229  n. 

Heroes,  and  opportunity,  56-68  ;  tra- 
ditions of,  in  Hebrew  literature, 
81. 

Historical  basis  of  the  Bible,  183,  18G- 
187. 

History,  its  importance  to   sociology. 


252 


INDEX. 


23-26;  centres  of,  24-25,  42-43; 
personalities  and  social  forces  fac- 
tors in,  25 ;  and  literature,  70-77, 
93-95 ;  the  great  crisis  in,  lOG ; 
ci-eative  force  of  the  Bible  in,  189  ; 
friendship  in,  210-211 ;  God  in, 
238-242. 

Holy  Spirit,  the,  van  Oosterzee  on 
doctrine  of,  17  ;  in  the  home  of 
Jesus,  122  ;  Luke's  use  of  the  term, 
151  ;  and  doctrine  of  tlie  Trinity, 
232-237  ;  procession  of,  23G-237  n.  ; 
descent  of,  see  Pentecost.  See  also 
Spirit,  the. 

Home,  a  Christian  institution,  1G8- 
109. 

Homer,  "  The  Iliad,"  89. 

Horton,  R.  F.,  "  Revelation  and  the 
Bible,"  81,  80  w. 

Hospitals  and  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity, 105?!.,  203. 

Howells,  W.  D.,  Article  in  i\".  Avjer. 
Bev.,  173  n.  ;  "Traveller  from  Al- 
truria,"  222«. 

Humanitarian  spirit,  of  Mosaism,  32  ; 
of  the  early  Church,  159-1C5. 

Humanity  of  Jesus,  143-144. 

Hymuology,  modern,  and  the  Psalms, 
145. 

Idol,  punishment  of,  50  n. 

Ihering,  R.  von,  "  Spirit  of  Roman 
Law,"  5  72. 

"Iliad,  The,"  its  catalogue  of  names 
and  Hebrew  genealogies,  89. 

Immortality,  20C-207  ,  hope  of,  based 
on  personal  relationships,  209  ;  and 
friendship,  217-220,  222.  See  also 
Future  life. 

Imperial  power  of  Jesus,  246. 

Incarnation,  the,  242,  247. 

Individualism,  spiritual  forces  depen- 
dent upon,  22-23,  37  ;  stress  upon 
in  Hebrew  history,  50  ;  development 
of,  190;  relation  of  to  friendship 
and  immortality,  217. 

Individuality  of  a  spiritual  phenome- 
non, 15. 

Industrialism  and  the  spirit  of  Chris- 
tianity, 170-177. 

Infant  salvation,  221. 

Inspiration,  "pen-point,"  91-92  ;  and 
the  Bible,  180-193. 

Internationalism,  171-172. 

Irish  nationalism  and  the  Scriptures, 
170. 

iF^aiah,  frankness  of,  50 ;  and  the 
"  remnant,"  111. 

Israel.  See  Hebrew  History  ;  Hebrew 
Nation,  etc. 


Jackson,  G.  A.,  "The  Sou  of  a  Pro- 
phet," 33. 
James,  pai-ty  of,  154  ;  Epistle  of,  char- 
acterized, 155. 
Jehovah,    significance   of,     127,   225 ; 
functions  of,  ascribed  to  Jesus,  224. 
Jeremiah,  frankness  of,  51 ;  and  the 

ritual,  54. 
Jerusalem,  and  the  Hebrew  literature, 
80  ;  visit  of  the  boy  Jesus  to,  122- 
124. 
Jesus,  as  a  pure  phenomenon,  2,  3  ; 
spirit  of,  a  distinct  phenomenon,  3, 
20  ;  spirit  of,  a  factor  in  history,  2(i, 
242 ;  personality  of,  20,  130-132, 
240 ;  and  the  Messianic  remnant, 
112  ;  story  of  his  birth,  119-120  ; 
childhood  of,  121-128;  home  o% 
122  ;  national  consciousness  of,  123  ; 
firtt  utterance  of,  124-129 ;  baptism 
and  temptation  of,  129 ;  and  the 
unseen  world,  133-137,  208;  and 
the  Messiahship,  138-139 ;  cosmo- 
politanism of,  140-141  ;  and  out- 
lawry, 142  ;  human  limitations  of, 
143-144  ;  life  of,  an  era,  149  ;  res- 
urrection of,  150;  manifestntion  of 
his  spirit  in  the  disciples,  151-153; 
and  slavery,  162;  and  property, 
104  ;  ard  charity,  165  ;  and  asceti- 
cism, 1G8  ;  in  the  N.  T.,  180-182, 
224  ;  a  literary  personage,  191  ;  and 
miracles,  201-203 ;  and  friendship, 
212-214-  still  the  Supreme  Friend, 
224-227  ;  apotheosis  of,  226-227 ; 
a  derived  being,  227  ;  and  the  Fa- 
ther, relations  between,  230-232; 
worship  of,  242 ;  imperial  power  of, 
240. 
Jews,  the,  and  Persian  civilization, 
100.  See  also  Hebrew  Nation  ;  Ju- 
daism. 
Job,   Book  of,   its    connection  with 

Jeremiah,  51  ;  its  canonicity,  101. 
John  the  Baptist,  and  the   Essenes, 

115  ;  ministry  of,  130. 
Jonah,  Book  of,  its  universalism,  102. 
Joseph  and  the  home   of  Jesus,  127- 

128. 
Josephus  and  the  Hebrew  spirit.  111. 
Judaism,  rise  of,  58-59  ;  and  Hebraism, 
59-02;    and     sin,    03-04;    and   the 
synagogue,  04-60  ;  sects  of,  70-71  ; 
danger  to,  from  Syrian  heathenism, 
71  ;  and  the  Messianic  anticipation, 
109-111  ;     angels    and    demons   in 
later,    134 ;  and  the  early  Churcl  , 
155-150. 
Judges,  period  of,  in  Hebrew  historv, 
40. 


INDEX. 


253 


Kxnt,  I.,  and  immortality,  221-222, 
229  ;  "  Practical  Reason,"  22U. 

Keiui,  T.  "Jesus  of  Nazara,"  71  n., 
VlOn.,  123?i.,139n. 

Kingdom  of  God,  Jesus'  preaching  of, 
137-138. 

Kingsley,  C,  controvery  with  New- 
man, 205-206  n. 

Knenen,  A.,  "  Hibbert  Ijcctures," 
23  n. 

Ladd,  Gr.  T.,  "Doctrine  of  Sacred 
Sci-iptures,"  4  n.,  79  n. 

Land-ownership  and  the  spirit  of 
Chi-istianity,  17G  n. 

Lange,  F.  A.,  "  History  of  Material- 
ism," 212  n.,  229-230  71. 

Language,  and  literature,  75 ;  and  the 
spirit  of  Jesns,  152  ;  and  the  Bible, 
184  «.,  187-188,  192. 

Law  and  the  early  Church,  158-159. 

Lawlessness,  period  of,  in  Hebrew 
history,  40  ;  of  Moses,  44. 

Leatlies,  S.,  "  Foundations  of  Moral- 
ity," 31  n. 

Lecky,  W.  E.  H.,  "  European  Morals," 
158  n.,  IGO,  161,  162  n.,  163  n., 
166. 

"  Legalism,  Night  of,"  68. 

Legends.   See  Traditions. 

Literature,  liigliest  product  of  social 
activity,  73  ;  and  language,  75  ;  and 
psychology,  75  ;  and  history,  76, 
93-94 ;  a  force,  94-96  ;  and  the 
spirit  of  Christianity,  178-179 ;  and 
tlie  Logos  doctrine,  190. 

Locke,  John,  illustration  from,  191  n. 

Logos,  the,  and  the  Hebrew  mind, 
104  ;  two  manifestations  of,  190. 

Lotze,  H.,  and  the  "  Zeit  Geist,''  14 ; 
"  Mici'ocosmus,''^  241. 

Luke,  his  gospel  and  the  "  remnant," 
113;  his  use  in  Acts  of  the  term 
"  Holy  Spirit,"  151  n. 

Luther,  Martin,  and  study  of  spirit- 
ual forces,  18. 

Macaulay,  T.  B.,  "History  of  Eng- 
land," 98. 

Maccabean  War,  71,  72. 

Madagascar,  and  the  Bible,  187. 

Magi,  visit  of,  116. 

"  Magnificat,''  the  114, 121. 

Manning,  H.  E.,  and  Newman,  com- 
pared, 21. 

Miry,  the  mother  of  Jesus,  112,  118- 
119  ;  characteristics  of,  124-125. 

Material  forces  and  spiritual,  distinc- 
tion between,  13 ;  analogies  be- 
tween, 148. 


Matheson,  G.,  "Growth  of  the  Spirit 

of     Christianity,"     5  7i.,     152-153; 

"Messages  of  tlie  Old  Religions," 

132  n. 
Maurice,  F.  D.,  Biography  of,  19??., 

237  n.,  240  n. 
Messiahship,  Jesus'  idea  of,  138-139. 
Messianic   anticipation,  its    creation, 

58 ;    and   the   canon,  98 ;    and  the 

fullness  of  time,  109-111. 
Messianic  ideal  and  Hebraism,  59. 
Messianic  remnant,  the,  112. 
Miracles,    in    Hebrew   tliought,   201  ; 

and  Jesus,  201-203. 
Missionaries  and  science,  203-204. 
"  Missions  and  Science,"  referred  to, 

204. 
Mohammedanism,  179. 
Monotheism  of  tlie  Hebrews,  200. 
Montesquieu,  C.  de,  "  Spirit  of  Laws," 

5?i.,  lQ>n. 
Montgomery,    E.,    article    in  Mind, 

14. 
Morality.    See  Ethics. 
Moriah,  Mt.,  sanctuary  on,  43. 
Mosaism,    spirit   of,  28  n.  ;    Egyptian 

influence     on,     29 ;     humanitarian, 

32;    and  ritualism,    32-33;    social, 

spirit    of,    37-38 ;    revived  by  the 

prophets,   46-48 ;  revived  by  Ezra, 

62  ;  and  the  Pharisees,  70.   See  also 

Hebraism  ;  Hebrew  spirit,  the. 
Moses,   historicity  of,    28  ;  spirit   of, 

more      ancient    than    Moses,     35 ; 

spirit   of,    in   time   of  the  Judges, 

41 ;    lawlessness   of,   44  ;  spirit  of, 

in  later  prophets,  55  ;  ethical  teacli- 

ing  of,  198  n. 
Mulford,   E.,     "Republic   of    God," 

22. 
Miiller,  F.  M.,  "  Science  of  Thought," 

75  n.,  104  w.,  192  n. 
Murray,  T.  C,  "  Origin   and  Growth 

of  the  Psalms,"  78  n. 
Mythology,   Persian,   68,  87 ;     Bab}'- 

lonian,   81-83 ;    and   ethics   198  7i.  ; 

and  Christology,  231. 

Nationalism,   and  religion  23-24,  38  ; 

literature  a  force  in,  94-95  ;  and  the 

spirit  of  Cliristianity,  169-171. 
Natural  law.  See  Continuity,  Law  of  ; 

Science. 
Nature  and  Man,  Hebrew  idea  of,  199- 

201. 
Neander,  J.  A.  W.,    "History  of  the 

Cliristian    Religion    and  Church," 

157. 
New  Testament  literature,  180-184. 
Newman,  J.  H.,  and  Manning,  com- 


254 


INDEX. 


pared.  21  ;  controversy  with  Kiugs- 

ley,  '205-20G  n. 
Niceiie  Creed,  235,  236  n. 
Noire,  L.,  "  Ursprung  der  Sprache,^^ 

75  n. 
"  JVunc  Dimittis;'  the,  114,  121. 

Objectivity  of  spiritual  phenomena,  8. 

Oehler,  G.  F.  "  Theology  of  the  Old 
Testament,"  228. 

Old  and  New  Testaments,  interval 
between,  67-G8 ;  continuity  be- 
tween, 183-185. 

Oosterzee,  J.  J.  van,  on  the  Holy 
Spirit,  17  ;  on  the  spirit  of  Christ 
in  the  first  century,  157  n. 

Opportunity  and  the  man,  57. 

Optimism,  of  the  prophets,  51-54 ; 
of  the  Hebrews,  and  Persian  dual- 
ity, 87  ;  of  the  Hebrews,  and  Jesus, 
137. 

Origen,  on  Scripture  and  the  Greek 
poets,  83-84  n  ;  on  the  prophets,  91, 
92. 

Orthodoxy  regained,  245. 

Outlawry,  at  beginnings  of  national 
life,  41-42  ;  philosophy  of,  and  Je- 
sus, 142-143. 

Palestine,  the  spirit  and  the  land,  41- 
42  ;  its  influence  on  Hebrew  lit- 
erature, 78-80. 

Pantheism  and  immanent  theism, 
242  n. 

Passover,  sacramental  rite  borrowed 
from,  140. 

Patriotism.     See  Nationalism. 

Patronage  and  friendship,  214. 

Paul,  and  trance  conditions,  133  ; 
party  of,  154 ;  epistles  of,  181 ;  and 
friendship,  213. 

Pauperism  and  charities,  160,  165. 

Pentateuch,  ritual  of,  32-33. 

Pentecost,  26,  59,  149,  151. 

Persian  civilization  and  Jewish  self- 
assertion,  100. 

Persian  mythology,  influence  of,  on 
Hebrew  doctrines,  68,  87. 

Per.son  and  spirit,  relations  between, 
11-12  ;  in  Jesus,  130-131,  143,  193- 
195,  239. 

Personal  relationships.  See  Right 
personal  relationships. 

Personality,  expressed  in  spiritual 
forces,  12, 195  ;  ability  of,  to  achieve 
fixedness,  14  ;  a  factor  in  history, 
25 ;  and  prayer,  132 ;  importance 
of,  in  Hebrew  thought,  199  ;  and 
the  Trinity,  233. 

Pessimism  met  by  Isaiah,  54. 


Peter,   at    Pentecost,   151  ;  and    the 

early  Cliurch,  155. 
Pharisees,  70  ;  their  ideas  of  angels 

and  demons,  135. 
Phenomena  of  the  spirit.     See  Spirit- 
ual phenomena. 
Phenomenon  most  significant  in  the 

universe,  3. 
Philo,  on  the  patriarchs,  77-78  ;  iden- 
tifies thought  of  Plato  and  Moses, 

198  w. 
Phoenicia  lacking  in  a  literature,  76. 
Piepenbring,    C,  "  Theology  of  Old 

Testament,"  20  w.,  55n.,  79  ??.,  200. 
Plato,   criticised  by  Bacon,  11  ;    and 

Messianic  expectation,  110  71.  ;  and 

Moses,  198  n. 
Poetry  the  first  literature,  76,  93. 
Politics  and  the  spirit  of  Christianity, 

173. 
"  Poor,   the.    Society    for  Improving 

Condition  of,"  and  patronage,  214  n. 
Positivism,  method  of,  2. 
Prayer  and  the  spirit  of  Jesus,  132. 
Priest-prophet     and     scribe-prophet, 

61. 
Property  and  the  spirit  of  Christian- 
ity, 164. 
Prophetic  guilds,   89  ;  extinction  of, 

90  ;  literary  expression  of,  91. 
Prophetic    literature    overlooked  by 

scribes  and  Sadducees,  114. 
Prophets,  line  of,  a  spiritual  power, 

46-47  ;  ethics  of,  48  ;  faith  of,  49  ; 

frankness  of,   50  ;     opitimism     of, 

51  -54 ;    post-exilic,   as  priests  and 

scribes,  61. 
Proverbial  literature  of  the  Hebrews, 

80. 
Providence,   divine,   Jesus'   idea    of, 

133-138  ;  not  an  object  of  scientific 

perception,  181,  239. 
Psalter,  the,  and  the  scribes,  63  ;  and 

modern  hymnology,  145. 
Psychology  and  literature,  75. 
Purim,  Feast  of,  100. 

Real  estate,  176  n. 

Redemption,  244,  247. 

Relationships.  See  Right  personal  re- 
lationships ;  Social  relationships. 

Religion,  a  branch  of  sociology,  20  ; 
and  nationalism,  23,  28  ;  and  ethics 
in  the  prophets,  47-49  ;  and  right 
social  relationships,  144;  and  sci- 
ence, 240-242. 

"Remnant,"  the,  111-116;  folk-lore 
of,  114;  catholicity  of,  115;  and 
friendship,  140. 

Renaissance,    the,    and  the    French 


INDEX. 


255 


Revolution,  95;  and  bep;inning  of 
American  nationalism,  170. 

Renan,  E.,  "  History  of  the  People  of 
Israel,"  5-0  n.,  41,  SO  n.,  G-i,  79  n, 
85-8G/i.,  229  ;  "  Tie  dc  Jesus,''  141. 

Resurrection  of  Jesus,  137  n.,  208/1.  ; 
power  of,  150. 

Right  personal  relationslups,  leading 
to  reform,  144  ;  in  Hebrew  history, 
147  ;  industrialism,  177  ;  goal  of  the 
spiritual  movement,  200  ;  and  na- 
ture, 202 ;  and  Kingsley's  faith, 
20G  n.  ;  and  future  life,  223  ;  and 
the  Trinity,  234;  and  friendship, 
246.     Set  also  S  )oial  relationships. 

Ritual,  of  tlie  Pentateuch,  32-33 ; 
and  morality  contrasted,  48  ;  and 
the  prophets,  54  ;  post-exilic,  Gl. 

Raman  power,  decline  of,  107  ;  and 
the  early  Clmrch,  158. 

Roman  social  life  and  the  early 
Church,  159-1G9. 

Rome  built  by  outlaws,  41. 

Ruth,  Book  of,  its  realism  102. 

Ryle,  H.  E.,  "  Early  Narratives  of 
Genesis,"  87,  88. 

Sabbath,  the,  its  revival  after  the 
exile,  105. 

Sacrament,  the,  borrowed  from  Jew- 
isli  Passover,  140. 

Sacrifice,  Jesus  as,  142,  244-245. 

Sadducees,  70  ;  deny  prophetic  por- 
tions of  Old  Testament,  114 ;  deism 
of,  and  Jesus,  135. 

Salvian,  "  De  Gubernaiione  Dei,''' 
1G6. 

Samuel,  work  of,  44. 

Satan,  compared  with  Persian  evil 
deity,  G8,  87  ;  Jesus'  idea  of,  134. 

Saul,  king  of  Israel,  clioseu,  43-44 ; 
and  the  prophets,  89. 

Sayce,  A.  H.,  43  7t.;  "  Hibbert  Lee- 
tures,"  81. 

Science  and  Genesis,  85 ;  and  Christian- 
ity, 179-180 ;  and  the  Bible,  18G, 
204  ;  and  the  spirit,  203  ;  served  by 
missions,  204  ;  and  faith,  238-242  ; 
and  the  sense  of  sin,  243. 

Scientific  method,  applied  to  spiritual 
phenomena,  5,  194. 

Scribism,  59,  Gl  ;  and  the  Synagogue, 
C4-G5  ;  and  the  Scriptures,  GG-G7  ; 
and  proplietic  literature,  114.  See 
also  Judaism. 

Scriptures,  demand  for,  66-07  ;  em- 
body tlie  Hebrew  mind,  104  ;  and 
nationalism,  169-171.  See  also 
Cinon  ;  Bible  ;  New  Testament  ; 
Old  Testament. 


Seeley,  J.  R.,  on  doctrine  of  civili- 
zation, 19  ;  on  ideal  society,  215. 

Semitic  spirit,  contrary  to  Mosaism, 
34-35. 

Septuagint,  70,  184. 

Serpent,  the,  in  the  Eden  legend,  86, 
198  n. 

Seybert  Commission,  report  of,  208  n. 

Sliakespeire  and  proverbial  litera- 
ture, 80. 

Simeon,  and  the  "remnant,"  115, 
121. 

Sin,  concept  of  in  Judaism  and  in 
Hebraism,  63;  the  problem  of  in 
Genesis,  86-87  ;  and  personal  re- 
lationship to  God,  243-245. 

Slavery,  and  the  spirit  of  Cluistianity, 
1G1-1G4  ;  and  tlie  Bible,  185. 

Social  force,  of  the  Hebrew  nation, 
37-38  ;  of  literature,  73-78,  94-96  ; 
of  the  early  Church,  158. 

Social  forces,  definite  entities,  16  n., 
19  7i.,  spiritual  20-23,  25-26,194- 
196  ;  in  history,  25,  197.  See  also 
Ethics. 

Social  relationships,  persistence  of, 
14  ;  in  worship,  21 ;  right,  effecting 
reforms,  144 ;  of  the  Hebrew  na- 
tion, 147  ;  and  the  spirit,  196  ;  and 
superstition,  209.  See  also  Right 
personal  relationships. 

Sociological  and  spiritual  phenomena 
compared,  17,  20-23,  25. 

Socrates,  107,  133. 

Solomon,  premature  universalism 
under,  45. 

Song  of  Solomon.  See  Canticles. 

Sonship,  as  interpreted  by  Jesus,  131- 
133 ;  Hebrew  idea  of,  145 ;  and 
Fatherhood  in  the  Trinity,  230-237. 

Sorcery.  See  Witchcraft. 

Spencer,  H.,  fails  to  apply  scientific 
method  to  spirit,  5 ;  on  "  moving 
equilibrium,"  15;  "First  Princi- 
ples," 18-19. 

Spirit,  a  reality  of  a  secondary  kind, 
10,  35  ;  growing  significance  of  the 
term,  79. 

Spirit,  and  person,  relations  between, 
11-12,  148;  in  Jesus'  case,  130-131, 
143,  193-195,  239. 

Spirit  and  spirits,  classification  and 
definition,  G. 

Spirit,  the,  and  legalism,  68  ;  litera- 
ture of,  73,  78  ;  and  the  canon,  98- 
104 ;  self-restraint  of,  146  ;  age  of, 
1,50 ;  after  Penteoost,  154-155 ;  -. 
religious  force,  199 ;  and  scienc, 
203  ;  apotheosis  of,  232-234  ;  O"  1 
Divine    Providence,  239-242.     See 


256 


INDEX. 


also  Christianity,  Spirit  of ;  Jesus, 
Spirit  of ;  Hebrew  spirit  j  Holy 
Spirit,  the. 

Spiritism,  208-209. 

Spiritual  forces,  specific,  13,  14,  147  ; 
dependent  on  individualism,  196. 

Spiritual  phenomena,  in  general,  4-5  ; 
real  objectivity  of,  8,  194  ;  not  ab- 
stractions, 8-9,  147-148 ;  inchoate, 
17  ;  complexity  of,  19-20  ;  as  social 
forces,  20-23,  25-2(3,  194-190;  in 
age  of  Jesus,  134-135. 

Spiritual  substance,  14-15. 

Stanley,  A.  P.,  "  History  of  Jewish 
Church,"  G5  ?«.,  G9  n.,  71  n. 

Stearns,  L.  F.,  "  Evidence  of  Chris- 
tian Experience,"  237  n. 

Stock  exchange,  175. 

Substance,  14. 

Suicide,  influence  of  Christianity  on, 
161. 

Synagogue,  foimded  by  scribism,  64- 
65  ;  The  Great,  existence  of,  99  n.  ; 
development  of,  105. 

Syrian  heathenism,  Judaism  rescued 
from  by  Maccabees,  71. 

Tacitus,  "  Germaiiia,''^  166. 

Taine,  H.,  on  importance  of  literature, 

94. 
Talmud,  the,  and  the  Bible,  185. 
"  Teaching  of  the  Twelve,"  151. 
Temple,   the,  its  meaning   for  Jesus, 

125-127. 
Temptation  of  Jesus,  130. 
Ten  Commandments.  See  Decalogue. 
Tennyson,  A.,  "In  Memoriam,"  218, 

219,   220,  223,   230;  characterized, 

218. 
Theism,    immanent,   compared  with 

Deism  and  Pantheism,  242  n. 
Theosophy,  208. 
Thompson,   W.   M.,     "  The  Natural 

Basis  of  our  Spiritual  Language," 

in  Bib.  Sac,  18  n. 
Toy,  C.  H.,  "  Judaism  and  Christian- 
ity," 20,  23,  73ra. 
Traditions,  Hebrew  and  Babylonian, 

compared,  81. 


Trance  conditions,  not  originative, 
90;  and  Paul,  133;  and  Jesus,  133. 
See  also  Spiritism. 

Transtiguratiou,  137  n.,  208 «. 

Trinity,  doctrine  of,  232-237. 

Trumbull,  H.  C,  "  The  Master  Pas- 
sion," 209. 

Truth  for  truth's  sake  vs.  truth  for 
love's  sake,  205-206. 

Uncle  Tom's  Cabin  and  spirit  of 
antislavery,  20. 

Unseen  world,  the,  135,  197  ;  com- 
munication with,  207-209.  See  also 
Future  life. 

Utopias  of  the  prophets,  53. 

Virgil,  "Eclogues,"  109-110. 

Wall  Street,  spirit  of,  8. 
War,  spirit  of,  171-173. 
Ward,       Lester,      "  Dynamical      So- 
ciology," 5  71.,  17-18  «.,  19,  203n.  ; 

"  Psychic  Factors  in  Civilization," 

5n.,  6«.,  20 ?i. 
Weiss,  B.,  "Life  of  Christ,"  120,  139. 
Wendt,  H.,  "  Teaching  of  Jesus,"  115- 

116  «.,  128-129,  130  w.,  138  71. 
Wesley,     John,     spirit     of,    8 ;    and 

George  Fox,  216,  217. 
Whittier,  J.  G.,  and  Tennyson,  21971. 
William   the   Silent  and    friendship, 

211. 
Wisdom  literature  and  the  canon,  103  ; 
Witchcraft,  tabooed  by  the  Hebrew 

spirit,  79,  85  ;  and  morality,  198. 
Womanhood,  and  the  Hebrew  spirit, 

117-119  ;  and  Christianity,  166-168. 
Word  of  God.    See  Logos. 
Worship,    social   character  of,  21  ;  in 

personal   relations,  148  ;  friendship 

as  basis  of,  227. 

Zacharias,  121. 

Zeit  Geist,  the,  and  the  Christ-spirit, 

7,    10,  12  ;  a  spirit   of  persons,  not 

things,  12. 
Zoroaster  and  the  doctrine  of  evil, 


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